Meeting lifestyle recommendations among cancer survivors – a cross-sectional descriptive analysis from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary BioImage study (SCAPIS)

Abstract Purpose This study aimed to describe lifestyle patterns in relation to recommendations —including physical activity, diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, and sleep quality—among Swedish cancer survivors, stratified by sex and age. Method A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed using data from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary BioImage study (SCAPIS). Questionnaires and accelerometers were used to collect data. SCAPIS data were linked to the Swedish in- and out-patient registry. Descriptive statistics were used to describe proportion meeting lifestyle recommendations in different cancer diagnoses. Results In total, 2576 individuals were identified as cancer survivors in the SCAPIS-cohort. The median age was 59 years, 57% were females, the median time since diagnosis was 13 years, and malignant melanoma was the most common cancer type (50%). Most cancer survivors in the sample met at least one lifestyle recommendation. Meeting multiple recommendations were significantly ( p < 0.001) more common among breast cancer and malignant melanoma survivors than among other cancer types. Females were significantly ( p < 0.001) more likely to meet multiple recommendations and were twice as likely (53%) to meet the dietary recommendation compared to men (26%). Conclusions In this study of cancer survivors, differences across cancer types were observed in meeting multiple lifestyle recommendations. Most survivors met at least one recommendation, while the lowest proportion meeting the recommendations was observed for diet and alcohol consumption. Implications for Cancer Survivors These findings suggest that cancer survivors might benefit from secondary prevention strategies targeting lifestyle factors in general and diet and alcohol consumption in particular.