Lifestyle Behaviors and Physical Health in Canadian Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivors
- 1Department of Oncology, Division of Psychosocial Oncology, Cumming School of Medicine University of Calgary Calgary Alberta Canada
- 2The Long‐Term Survivor's Clinic Alberta Children's Hospital Calgary Alberta Canada
- 3Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology Utrecht the Netherlands
Abstract
Background With this study, we aimed to investigate the longitudinal relationships between lifestyle behaviors and physical health in childhood, adolescent, or young adult (CAYA) cancer survivors attending the Long‐Term Survivor's Clinic (LTSC) in Calgary, Canada. Methods Survivors attended the LTSC once or twice a year and completed a questionnaire at each visit. Among survivors of any cancer diagnosis who were aged ≥ 11 years at the time of assessment, physical health was captured using two outcomes: the number of self‐reported physical health problems and the number of physical health‐related medications used. Self‐reported lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use, and sleep quality were scored as healthy (1) or unhealthy (0), and combined into a sum score ranging from 0 to 5. Multivariable, generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were estimated to assess the association between lifestyle behaviors (sum score and individual behaviors) and physical health outcomes, irrespective of time. To address our second research question, cross‐lagged GLMMs, incorporating a time component, were estimated to assess directionality between lifestyle sum score and the number of physical health problems. Results In total, 766 responses from 312 CAYA cancer survivors (median age at follow‐up 23.8 years; 49% male; 37% diagnosed with leukemia) were included. A healthier lifestyle sum score and sufficient physical activity were associated with fewer physical health problems (estimate −0.15, SE 0.06, p‐value 0.02 and estimate −0.23, SE 0.11, p‐value 0.04, respectively). No significant associations were found between lifestyle and the number of medications used. Lifestyle behaviors at an earlier time did not predict better physical health at a later time and vice versa. Conclusions Findings confirm an association between a healthy lifestyle and fewer physical health problems. Additional studies are warranted to further elucidate directional pathways between a survivor's lifestyle and physical health.
Related
- Latent profile analysis of adolescent quality of life and its associations with lifestyle behaviors
- Behavior Change Interventions to Promote Healthy Lifestyles Among Adolescent and Young Adult Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Scoping Review.
- Long-term endocrine and reproductive outcomes in female adolescent and young adult survivors after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hematological malignancies during childhood or adolescence
- Risk of subsequent primary melanoma in 68 002 five-year survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer in Europe: the PanCareSurFup cohort study
- Cohort Profile: The Adolescent and Young Adult Tracking Engagement and Management Skills (AYA TEAMS) longitudinal cohort of childhood cancer survivors in the United States
BibTeX
@article{denoever2026lifestyle,
title = {{Lifestyle Behaviors and Physical Health in Canadian Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivors}},
author = {Selina R. van denOever and Ismay A. E. deBeijer and Oluwaseyi A. Lawal and Heide T. Adham and Tamilore Ashofor and Amanda Button and Jenny Duong and Jennifer Giles and Leontien C. M. Kremer and Helena van derPal and Kathleen Reynolds and Rachel M. Taylor and Saskia M. F. Pluijm and Fiona M. Schulte},
journal = {Cancer Medicine},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/cam4.72324},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.72324},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Lifestyle Behaviors and Physical Health in Canadian Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivors
AU - Selina R. van denOever
AU - Ismay A. E. deBeijer
AU - Oluwaseyi A. Lawal
AU - Heide T. Adham
AU - Tamilore Ashofor
AU - Amanda Button
AU - Jenny Duong
AU - Jennifer Giles
AU - Leontien C. M. Kremer
AU - Helena van derPal
AU - Kathleen Reynolds
AU - Rachel M. Taylor
AU - Saskia M. F. Pluijm
AU - Fiona M. Schulte
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/24
JO - Cancer Medicine
DO - 10.1002/cam4.72324
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.72324
AB - Background With this study, we aimed to investigate the longitudinal relationships between lifestyle behaviors and physical health in childhood, adolescent, or young adult (CAYA) cancer survivors attending the Long‐Term Survivor's Clinic (LTSC) in Calgary, Canada. Methods Survivors attended the LTSC once or twice a year and completed a questionnaire at each visit. Among survivors of any cancer diagnosis who were aged ≥ 11 years at the time of assessment, physical health was captured using two outcomes: the number of self‐reported physical health problems and the number of physical health‐related medications used. Self‐reported lifestyle behaviors, including physical activity, alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use, and sleep quality were scored as healthy (1) or unhealthy (0), and combined into a sum score ranging from 0 to 5. Multivariable, generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were estimated to assess the association between lifestyle behaviors (sum score and individual behaviors) and physical health outcomes, irrespective of time. To address our second research question, cross‐lagged GLMMs, incorporating a time component, were estimated to assess directionality between lifestyle sum score and the number of physical health problems. Results In total, 766 responses from 312 CAYA cancer survivors (median age at follow‐up 23.8 years; 49% male; 37% diagnosed with leukemia) were included. A healthier lifestyle sum score and sufficient physical activity were associated with fewer physical health problems (estimate −0.15, SE 0.06, p‐value 0.02 and estimate −0.23, SE 0.11, p‐value 0.04, respectively). No significant associations were found between lifestyle and the number of medications used. Lifestyle behaviors at an earlier time did not predict better physical health at a later time and vice versa. Conclusions Findings confirm an association between a healthy lifestyle and fewer physical health problems. Additional studies are warranted to further elucidate directional pathways between a survivor's lifestyle and physical health.
SN - 2045-7634
ER -