Trends and Cancer-Specific Patterns of Physical Activity, Sleep Duration, and Daily Sitting Time Among US Cancer Survivors, 1997-2018

Physical activity, sufficient sleep, and limiting sedentary time may improve cancer survivorship. Utilizing US nationally representative samples from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 1997-2018 and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2018, this study investigated the trends of meeting physical activity guidelines (PAG), insufficient sleep duration, and sitting time in US cancer survivors (n = 58,527) and non-cancer adults (n = 640,109). From 1997-2018, the prevalence of meeting PAG was consistently lower in cancer survivors than in non-cancer adults. Among cancer survivors, the prevalence of meeting PAG increased from 34.9% (95% CI, 33.1-36.8) to 46.5 (95% CI, 45.0-48.1) for aerobic (≥150 minutes/week at moderate-intensity or 75 minutes/week at vigorous-intensity), from 13.9 (95% CI, 12.8-15.1) to 23.1 (95%, 21.8-24.4) for muscle-strengthening (≥2 days/week) activities, and from 9.5 (95% CI, 8.4-10.7) to 17.9 (95% CI, 16.7-19.1) for both combined (all P for trend <.001). From 2004 to 2018, the prevalence of insufficient sleep duration (<7 h/d) increased from 28.4% (95% CI, 26.3- 30.5) to 30.8% (95% CI, 29.3-32.2) (Ptrend=0.004). Daily sitting time increased from 6.09 h/d (95% CI, 5.71-6.46) in 2007-2008 to 7.36 h/d (95% CI, 7.05-7.68) in 2013-2014 and attenuated to 6.20 h/d (95% CI, 5.74-6.65) in 2017-2018. The pattern of physical activity, sleep, and sitting time varied by sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, cancer type, and time since cancer diagnosis. More than half of US cancer survivors did not meet PAG and a large proportion had insufficient sleep duration and prolonged sitting time.

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