1. Rural-urban differences in meeting physical activity recommendations and health status in cancer survivors in central Pennsylvania.
- Author
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Mama, Scherezade K., Bhuiyan, Nishat, Foo, Wayne, Segel, Joel E., Bluethmann, Shirley M., Winkels, Renate M., Wiskemann, Joachim, Calo, William A., Lengerich, Eugene J., and Schmitz, Kathryn H.
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CANCER survivors ,RURAL-urban differences ,PHYSICAL activity ,MEETINGS ,HEALTH equity ,TUMORS & psychology ,SELF-evaluation ,ACQUISITION of data ,HEALTH status indicators ,EXERCISE ,RESEARCH funding ,TUMORS ,LOGISTIC regression analysis ,RURAL population - Abstract
Purpose: This study explored rural-urban differences in meeting physical activity (PA) recommendations and health status in cancer survivors in central Pennsylvania and associations between PA and health status.Methods: Cancer survivors (N = 2463) were identified through a state cancer registry and mailed questionnaires assessing PA and health status. Rural-urban residence was based on county of residence at diagnosis. Participants self-reported frequency and duration of leisure-time PA and were classified as meeting: (1) aerobic recommendations (≥ 150 min/week), (2) muscle-strengthening recommendations (≥ 2 times/week), (3) both aerobic and muscle-strengthening recommendations, or (4) neither recommendation. Logistic regression models examined associations between rural-urban residence and meeting PA recommendations and associations between PA and health status, adjusting for age, cancer type, gender, and income.Results: Nearly 600 (N = 591, 24.0%) cancer survivors returned completed questionnaires (rural 9.5%, urban 90.5%). Half (50.0%) of rural cancer survivors reported no leisure-time PA compared to 35.2% of urban cancer survivors (p = 0.020), and urban cancer survivors were 2.6 times more likely to meet aerobic PA recommendations (95% CI 1.1-6.4). Odds of reporting good physical and mental health were 2.3 times higher among survivors who reported meeting aerobic recommendations compared to those who did not meet PA recommendations (95% CI 1.1-4.5), adjusting for rurality and covariates.Conclusions: Results demonstrate persistent rural-urban differences in meeting PA recommendations in cancer survivors and its association with self-reported health.Implications For Cancer Survivors: Findings underscore the need for interventions to increase PA in rural cancer survivors in an effort to improve health status and reduce cancer health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2020
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