PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, PAIN AND FUNCTION IN CANCER SURVIVORS

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This study is closed to accrual. More than half of those diagnosed with cancer will survive longer than five years. Limited information, however, is available regarding long-term outcomes of older cancer survivors, including the development of functional limitations. The current study examines modifiable risk factors associated with impaired functioning including physical activity, pain, and inflammation. This cross-sectional analysis will use survey methods to assess physical activity, pain, and physical function in 745 survivors of colorectal cancer (5-10 yrs post-diagnosis) who are aged 65 or older, identified through the Wisconsin Cancer Registry and verified as living through the National Death Index. Standard measurement tools for each of these constructs will be administered via a mailed questionnaire. Additionally, a newly developed scale that assesses additional dimensions of physical function as well as the potential causes of functional limitations will be administered as part of the survey battery in an attempt to validate this measure for future use with older long-term cancer survivors. To address whether inflammation plays a mediating role in the physical activity, pain, and function relationships, and to further validate the new function scale, we will bring a sub-sample (n=35) of our population in for objectively measured physical function and body composition testing and a blood draw from which markers of inflammation (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha) will be measured. Identifying modifiable risk factors associated with physical function has important implications for improving long-term functional outcomes in the growing population of older cancer survivors.