Cardiorespiratory fitness and survival following cancer diagnosis

Data on the association of cardiorespiratory fitness with survival of cancer patients are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the association between midlife cardiorespiratory fitness and survival after a subsequent cancer diagnosis.

We evaluated 19,134 asymptomatic self-referred adults who were screened in preventive healthcare settings. All subjects were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline and completed a maximal exercise stress test. Fitness was categorised into age-specific and sex-specific quintiles according to the treadmill time and dichotomised to low (quintiles 1–2) and high fitness groups.

The mean age was 50 ± 8 years and 72% were men. During a median follow-up of 13 years (interquartile range 7–16) 517 (3%) died. Overall, 1455 (7.6%) subjects developed cancer with a median time to cancer diagnosis of 6.4 years (interquartile range 3–10). Death from the time of cancer diagnosis was significantly lower among the high fitness group (P_{log rank} = 0.03). Time-dependent analysis showed that subjects who developed cancer during follow-up were more likely to die (P < 0.001). The association of cancer with survival was fitness dependent such that in the lower fitness group cancer was associated with a higher risk of death, whereas among the high fitness group the risk of death was lower (hazard ratio 20 vs. 15; P_{for interaction} = 0.047). The effect modification persisted after applying a 4-year blanking period between fitness assessment and cancer diagnosis (P_{for interaction} = 0.003).

Higher midlife cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better survival among cancer patients. Our findings support fitness assessment in preventive healthcare settings.