Physical exercise and health-related quality of life in adolescent cancer survivors.

Abstract

Purpose and methods: The regular practice of physical exercise (PE) is one of the main behaviours related with a healthy lifestyle that has demonstrated to yield benefits both on physical and psychological health-related quality of life’ domains (HRQoL). However, in Spain, studies exploring such association in pediatric survivors of childhood cancer are scarce. For that reason, this descriptive study examines the relationship between the pattern of PE performance and self-rated HRQoL in a sample of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer (ASCC), compared to a normative group from the general population (NG). All participants filled in the SF-12v2 questionnaire and the AECEF. Results: In both groups, a significantly higher percentage of male active survivors was found and they also showed significantly higher mean scores in MCS. However, HRQoL between groups was equivalent and even higher in the case of MCS for the GS. Only 12% of explained variance for MCS was accounted in the NG, considering PE, gender and age at the assessment. Conclusions: Considering these results, we believe it’s needed to explore other factors not addressed in the present work, such as PE intensity or type of physical activity performed that might be mediating the association between PE and HRQoL in adolescent cancer survivors. It is also discussed the suitability of using specific tools to assess HRQoL in adolescent survivors of childhood cancer populations.