PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Laal Farrokhzadi
AU  - Haryana M. Dhillon
AU  - Chris Goumas
AU  - Jane M. Young
AU  - Anne E. Cust
TI  - Physical Activity Correlates, Barriers, and Preferences for Women With Gynecological Cancer
AID  - 10.1097/IGC.0000000000000790
DP  - 2016 Oct 01
TA  - International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer
PG  - 1530--1537
VI  - 26
IP  - 8
4099  - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/26/8/1530.short
4100  - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/26/8/1530.full
SO  - Int J Gynecol Cancer2016 Oct 01; 26
AB  - Objective Physical activity is associated with improved health outcomes for people with cancer. We aimed to identify physical activity correlates, barriers, and preferences among women with gynecological cancer.Methods and Materials A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 101 women diagnosed with gynecological cancer (mostly ovarian cancer [59%] and endometrial cancer [23%]) within the previous 2 years, at 2 major hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Physical activity was measured for the past 7 days. Thirteen potential barriers were scored on a 5-point scale. Associations with physical activity were assessed using Spearman correlations (r s) and multivariate logistic regression.Results Factors associated with being sufficiently active (≥150 min/wk physical activity) were being in the follow-up phase of the cancer trajectory (odds ratio [OR], 7.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5 to 33.4 compared with other phases) and prediagnosis physical activity (OR, 4.6; 95% CI, 1.1 to 18.5 for the highest vs lowest tertile). The most common barriers were “too tired” and “not well enough,” and both were associated with lower physical activity (r s, −0.20 and −0.22, respectively). The odds of having disease-specific barriers was higher for women with ovarian cancer (OR, 4.6; P = 0.04) and women receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy (OR, 8.3; P = 0.008). “Lack of interest” (r s, −0.26) and “never been active” (r s, −0.23) were also inversely correlated with physical activity, although less common. Forty-three percent of women indicated that they were extremely or very interested to have a one-to-one session with an exercise physiologist. Participants’ preferred time of starting a physical activity program was 3 to 6 months after treatment (26%) or during treatment (23%). Walking was the preferred type of physical activity.Conclusions Strategies to increase physical activity among women with gynecological cancer should include a focus on reducing disease-specific barriers and target women who have done little physical activity in the past or who are in the treatment phases of care.