Self-reported physical activity behaviors of childhood cancer survivors: comparison to a general adolescent population in Korea

Purpose Adequate physical activity (PA) can significantly contribute to the prevention of undesirable health outcomes in childhood cancer survivors (CCS). This study aimed to identify the patterns of PA and related factors in Korean CCS. Methods Study subjects were 184 adolescents selected from an ongoing cohort study of Korean CCS and 1,840 sex- and school grade-matched controls randomly selected from the participants of the 2019 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. Information on PA and sedentary behaviors was collected by self-administered questionnaire. We estimated body mass index (BMI)-adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the advisable healthy behaviors of CCS compared with healthy controls using conditional logistic regression analysis. In addition, the associations of advisable healthy behaviors of CCS with sociodemographic and clinical factors were estimated using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results CCS were less likely to be physically active than controls, but this finding was evident only in males. The ORs (95% CIs) for regular exercise, moderate intensity PA, vigorous intensity PA, and walking were 0.42 (0.27–0.65), 0.39 (0.24–0.63), 0.53 (0.33–0.84), and 0.64 (0.42–0.98), respectively, in male CCS compared with same-sex controls. Compared with same-sex controls, male CCS were 4.60 times and female survivors were 15.19 times more likely to sleep longer than 8 h a day. Among CCS, males were 2.92 times and 3.07 times more likely to perform moderate intensity PA and muscle-strengthening exercise, respectively, than female. Higher BMI (OR: 1.16), highest family income (OR: 3.98), and a caregiver who performed regular exercise (OR: 2.08) were positively associated with vigorous intensity PA of CCS. With increasing time after treatment completion, the probability of engaging in sedentary activity for less than 6 h per day decreased (OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.79–1.00). Conclusion Korean adolescent CCS were physically inactive compared with control adolescents. Several sociodemographic factors such as sex, family income, caregiver PA, and obesity level were associated with PA behaviors of CCS. Implications Strategic effort would be needed to increase physical activity of childhood cancer survivors in adolescent period with consideration of various sociodemographic factors found in this study.