Background: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), a strong predictor of mortality, is impaired among cancer patients. There is limited data, however, regarding CRF levels in women diagnosed with gynecologic cancers.
Methods: We compared CRF among ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancer cases (n=89) to age-matched controls (n=89) in the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study (CCLS). CRF was evaluated by a maximal treadmill exercise tolerance test using a modified-Balke protocol. Conditional logistic regression was used to test for case-control differences in cardiorespiratory fitness, after controlling for age and body mass index, and adhering to the matched pairs design.
Results: The mean ages of cancer cases and controls were 50.9 years and 51.1 years, respectively (p=0.81). Peak METs (1 MET=3.5 mL kg(-1)min(-1)) were 9.2 ± 2.0 in cancer cases compared to 10.0 ± 2.2 in controls (p=0.03). When stratifying by type of cancer, peak METs were 8.9 ± 2.2, 8.4 ± 1.9, 9.5 ± 2.0 for patients with ovarian, endometrial, and cervical cancer, respectively. A gynecological cancer diagnosis was associated with greater odds of having 1-MET lower CRF compared to controls (OR 1.31, 95% CI: 1.05-1.64, p=0.018), after controlling for age and BMI.
Conclusion: Gynecologic cancer survivors were more likely to have a 1-MET lower CRF than controls. Given a 1-MET change in CRF is associated with a significant, we advocate for more robust research regarding CRF in gynecologic cancer patients.
Keywords: Cardiorespiratory fitness; Cervical cancer; Endometrial cancer; Gynecologic cancer; Ovarian cancer.
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