Findings Confirm Exercise Benefit for Kidney Cancer Survivors

Kidney cancer survivors who follow recommendations for physical activity experience improved quality of life, but few individuals adhere to the guidelines, according to recent findings.

Cancer survivors should engage in 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity weekly, or an equivalent combination, according to the American Cancer Society and the American College of Sports Medicine. Both groups also recommend at least two days a week of strength training that hits all muscle groups.

The study, published in Psycho-Oncology, surveyed 703 kidney cancer survivors using a provincial registry in Canada to determine how often the combined guidelines were met and if they were associated with quality of life.

Most survivors were men, had localized kidney cancer and were more than five years out from their initial diagnosis. The average age was 65; average body mass index, 28.5.

Researchers learned that 65.1 percent of the participants met neither guideline, 15.9 percent met only the aerobic guideline, 10.1 percent met both guidelines and 8.8 percent met only the strength training guideline.

Those who met both guidelines experienced better quality of life compared with those who met just one, and meeting at least one guideline was better than none.

“Our study suggests that exercise programs should target both aerobic and strength exercise for additional (quality of life) benefits in (kidney cancer survivors),” the researchers wrote.