CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 419Cancer Risks and FactorsColorectal Cancer Screening and DetectionPhysical Activity and Health

Leisure-Time Physical Activity, Body Size, and Colon Cancer in Women

Martinez, M. E., Giovannucci, E., Spiegelman, D., Willett, W. C., Hunter, D. J., Colditz, G. A.·1997·JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute
DOI 10.1093/jnci/89.13.948
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity and high body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by height in square meters) have been linked to increased risk of colon cancer. However, none of the few prospective studies in women has shown a statistically significant reduction in colon cancer incidence or mortality associated with increased leisure-time physical activity. PURPOSE: In this prospective study, we asked whether leisure-time physical activity, body mass index, or body fat distribution could significantly influence the risk of colon cancer in women. METHODS: The participants in this study were enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study, which began in 1976. Every 2 years, the women provided additional personal information and information on medical risk factors and major medical events. The time spent per week at a variety of leisure-time physical activities was determined, and the time spent at each activity was multiplied by its typical energy expenditure, expressed in terms of metabolic equivalents or METs. The resulting values for each woman were added to yield an MET-hours-per-week score. Reported diagnoses of colon cancer were confirmed by review of hospital records and pathology reports. Relative risks and associated 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS: In multivariate analyses that included body mass index, women who expended more than 21 MET-hours per week on leisure-time physical activity had a relative risk of colon cancer of 0.54 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.33-0.90) in comparison with women who expended less than 2 MET-hours per week. Women who had a body mass index greater than 29 kg/m2 had a relative risk of colon cancer of 1.45 (95% CI = 1.02-2.07) in comparison with women who had a body mass index less than 21 kg/m2. A tendency toward higher colon cancer risk was observed for increasing waist-to-hip ratio (relative risk = 1.48 [95% CI = 0.88-2.49] for comparison of the highest quintile ratio [>0.833] to the lowest [<0.728]). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The significant inverse association between leisure-time physical activity and incidence of colon cancer in women in this study is consistent with what has been found in men. Recommendations to increase physical activity and maintain lean body weight should receive greater emphasis as part of a feasible approach to the prevention of colon cancer.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/jnci/89.13.948

Cites

82 of 82 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 83 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Martinez, M. E., Giovannucci, E., Spiegelman, D., Willett, W. C., Hunter, D. J., & Colditz, G. A.
Affiliations
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Colditz, G. A.
ORCID
Venue
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
1997-07-02
Volume
89
Issue
13
Pages
948-955
ISSN
  • 0027-8874 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2105
DOI
10.1093/jnci/89.13.948
OpenAlex
W2101675272
Cited by
419
References
83
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 23
FWCI
5.43
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL035464, HL35464)
  • National Cancer Institute (CA-40356)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Colorectal Cancer Screening and Detection
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
Keywords
leisure-time physical activity, colon cancer, body mass index, body fat distribution, waist-to-hip ratio, women, cancer risk, energy expenditure, metabolic equivalents, colon cancer prevention, Nurses' Health Study
MeSH terms
Adult, Body Constitution, Body Weight, Colonic Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Leisure Activities, Middle Aged, Risk, Exercise, Body Mass Index, Women's Health

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review