According to a new study recently published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers associate participating in exercise as a teenager with a reduced risk of death from cancer and all-cause mortality—this after assessing the health of women aged 40-70.
To conduct the study, researchers obtained data from the Shanghai Women’s Health Study—a population-based prospective study that followed 75,000 women in Shanghai, China since 1996 and recorded causes of death and the incidences of specific cancers amongst the women.
Participants were interviewed every two to three years in order to collect a baseline and follow-up data; it included information on adult lifestyle-related factors and mortality outcomes. Data collected at the beginning of the study included self-reported exercise participation for participants between the ages of 13 to 19 along with blood and urine samples.
Researchers discovered that after an average of 12.9 years of follow-ups—there were 5,282 deaths among participants. Of the deaths, 2,375 were from cancer and 1,620 were caused by cardiovascular disease. Results indicate that women who participated in exercise as adolescents had a lower risk of death from cancer and all causes.
The women who exercised as adolescents for 1.33 hours a week or less were 16% less likely to have died from cancer and 15% less likely to have died from all causes.
Participating in team sports as an adolescent lowered the risk of death from cancer by 14% and lowered the risk of death from all causes by 10%.
Source for Today’s Article:
McIntosh, J., “Teenage exercise could reduce adult cancer risk, all-cause mortality for women,” Medical News Today web site, July 31, 2015; http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/297440.php.