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Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Visualization of Intensity Levels to Reduce the Gap Between Self-Reported and Directly Measured Physical Activity
Published on: March 7, 2019
Physical inactivity and head and neck cancer mortality
Jacob Fried1, John Lewis Etter1,2, Ashley E Stenzel2
1Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Background:
This study was performed to examine the association between adulthood recreational physical inactivity (PIA) and mortality among patients with cancers of the head and neck.
Methods:
Patients with head and neck cancer at Roswell Park between years 1990 to 1998 were included (N = 305). Multivariable Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to analyze the association between PIA and risk of dying.
Results:
There was a 1.40-fold increase in risk of dying among PIA patients, when compared to active patients with head and neck cancers (HR = 1.40, CI: 1.03-1.91). This was observed greater in PIA women (HR = 2.40, CI: 1.28-4.52), patients who were overweight/obese (HR = 1.76, CI: 1.09-2.85), patients with pharynx as the primary site (HR = 1.85, CI: 1.01-3.38), and patients with distant metastasis (HR = 5.19, CI: 1.37-19.65).
Conclusion:
Physically inactive patients with head and neck cancers are at significantly greater risk of dying when compared to patients who are active.
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