Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Gerhardsson M (Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, The Karolinska Institute, Box 60208, S-104 01 Stockholm, Sweden), Floderus B and Norell S E. Physical activity and colon cancer risk. International Journal of Epidemiology 1988, 17: 743–746. The association between low physical activity and colon cancer was examined in a Swedish 14-year follow-up study of 16477 subjects. The relative risk (RR) of colon cancer in subjects with low physical activity was estimated at 3.6 (1.3–9.8, 95% confidence interval). An association was observed for both men and women, and for low physical activity during occupational hours (RR = 1.6, 0.8–2.9) as well as during recreational hours (RR = 1.6, 1.0–2.7). The relative risk for rectal cancer was not elevated. In the study we controlled for age, gender, domicile and, to some extent, for diet A possible mechanism is that low physical activity could prolong the transit time of the stool in the colon and thereby the duration of contact between the mucosa and fecal carcinogens.
Gerhardsson et al. (Fri,) studied this question.