Do long term cancer survivors have better health-promoting behavior than non-cancer populations? Case-control study in Korea

Background: We compared the health-promoting behavior of long-term cancer survivors with those of the general population to identify necessary behavioral interventions to reduce the health risk among cancer patients. Materials and Methods: We used data from the 2007 and 2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES IV [2007~2009] and KNHANES V [2010~2012]) on smoking status, alcohol use, physical exercise, and disease screening. We compared long-term cancer survivors with members of the general population; the controls were matched by propensity score matching. A multiple logistic regression model was used to investigate the association between cancer status and health-promoting behavior. Results: Long-term cancer survivors had a lower risk of smoking than the general population controls (OR: 0.42, 95%CI: 0.25-0.71). In addition, the long-term cancer survivors had a lower risk of alcohol use than the general population controls (OR: 0.70, 95%CI: 0.50-0.98). However, in terms of physical exercise and disease screening, no statistically significant differences were detected (physical exercise OR: 1.01, 95%CI: 0.75-1.35; disease screening OR: 1.27, 95%CI: 0.93-1.74). All covariates were adjusted. Conclusions: The long-term cancer survivors had a much lower risk of smoking and alcohol use than the general population controls. However, almost no differences in physical exercise and screening for cancer recurrence or secondary disease were detected between the long-term cancer survivors and general population controls. To reduce the health risks and challenges facing long-term cancer survivors, interventions to encourage physical exercise and screening for cancer recurrence and secondary disease should be implemented.