Wearable Device-measured Physical Activity and Incident Cardiovascular Disease in Cancer Survivors

Objective: To explore the association of wearable device-measured moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in long-term cancer survivors.

Methods: This retrospective analysis involved a prospective cohort of 6109 cancer survivors without CVD from the UK Biobank accelerometry subsample. The MVPA volume is categorised into four groups based on guideline recommendations (0-75 min/week, 75-150 min/week, 150-300 min/week, ≥300 min/week). Cox proportional hazard models are used to investigate the association of MVPA with incident CVD.

Results: Over a median follow-up of 7.88 years, there were 539 incident CVD events (361 incident coronary artery disease (CAD) events, 155 incident heart failure (HF) events, and 109 incident stroke events). Adjusted CVD incidence rates (95% CIs) across MVPA groups (0-75 min/week, 75-150 min/week, 150-300 min/week, ≥300 min/week) were 15.30 (12.90, 18.10), 13.50 (11.00, 16.40), 12.00 (10.20, 14.10) and 9.86 (8.35, 11.60) per 1000 person-years, respectively. Adjusted HRs (95% CI) for CVD, CAD, HF and stroke in the highest MVPA group (≥300 min/week) compared with those in the lowest MVPA group (0-75 min/week) were 0.63 (0.49, 0.80), 0.68 (0.51, 0.91), 0.66 (0.42,1.06) and 0.72 (0.42, 1.23), respectively. For obesity-related cancers, the beneficial effect on CVD was observed when exceeding 300 MVPA min/week (HR 0.54 (0.37-0.81)) compared with the lowest MVPA group.

Conclusions: Findings from the UK Biobank study suggest that longer MVPA durations are associated with reduced CVD risk in cancer survivors, underscoring the potential for physical activity to serve as a key component in cardio-oncology care.