Associations Between Domain-specific Sedentary Behaviour And Perceived Cognitive Function Of Cancer Survivors

Cancer survivors spend the majority (~66%) of time in sedentary behaviours (SED), which can lead to deleterious health effects such as including cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) that impact quality of life. Reducing SED has shown to reduce the impact of CRCI, however, the relationship between domain-specific SED and cognitive function in cancer survivors remains unknown. PURPOSE: To examine the associations between domain specific-SED and perceived cognitive function in cancer populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study was a secondary analysis from an online survey in adult cancer survivors globally. Demographic (e.g., age, sex), and medical (e.g., cancer type) were self-reported. SED was assessed using the Domain-specific Sitting Time Questionnaire. Perceived cognitive function was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function (FACT-Cog) scale, which comprised of four subscale domains (e.g., perceived cognitive abilities [PCA]). Linear regressions were used to examine the association between change in SED domains (i.e., total, transport, work, television, computer, leisure) and FACT-Cog scores. RESULTS: Participants (N = 393, Mage = 48.4 ± 0.8) were primarily post-treatment (61.6%), breast (26.8%) cancer survivors. Change in leisure-time SED was significantly associated with PCA scores (β = .10; 95% CI: 0.00, 0.02; p = .04), where decreasing leisure-time SED was associated with improvements on PCA. These results indicate that for a one-point change on PCA, participants would need to decrease their leisure-time SED by 125 min/day. Changes in other domain-specific SED did not result in significant improvements (p > 0.05) on the total FACT-Cog or subscales. CONCLUSIONS: A reduction in time spent on leisure-specific SED is associated with modest improvements in PCA. Interventions should consider reducing leisure-specific SED to enhance PCA. Future research should utilize longitudinal designs to supplement these findings.