Adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research recommendations for cancer prevention is associated with better health-related quality of life among elderly female cancer survivors

Purpose: The 2007 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) diet and physical activity guidelines encourage cancer survivors to follow its cancer prevention recommendations. We evaluated whether adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations was associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among elderly female cancer survivors. Patients and Methods: A total of 2,193 women with a confirmed cancer diagnosis (1986 through 2002) in the Iowa Women’s Health Study were identified. We calculated a WCRF/AICR recommendation adherence score (range, 0 to 7), assigning one point each for seven recommendations. Physical and mental component summary scores (PCS, MCS) from the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 Health Survey were compared by recommendation adherence scores. Results: Mean adherence score was 4.0 1.2. Overall, higher adherence to the WCRF/AICR guidelines was significantly associated with better PCS and MCS after adjustment for age, education, marital status, number of comorbidities, smoking, cancer stage, and current cancer treatment (P_trend .001 for both). PCS was 43.5 versus 37.0 and MCS was 54.2 versus 52.0 among women with adherence scores 5 compared with women scoring 3. Adherence to the physical activity recommendation was associated with higher PCS and MCS after adjusting for demographic and medical confounders, body mass index, and dietary recommendation adherence. For the body weight recommendation, adherence was associated with higher PCS but lower MCS, whereas adherence to the dietary recommendations was associated with higher MCS only. Conclusion: Following the lifestyle guidelines for cancer prevention may improve HRQOL among elderly female cancer survivors. Physical activity may be a key lifestyle factor to improve HRQOL.