The association between behavioral habits and physical health status in prostate cancer patients: a large US national health-related survey

The impact of behavioral habits such as exercise on the physical health of prostate cancer (PCa) patients is poorly understood. We aimed to investigate PCa patients' exercise habits and the association between exercise and self-reported physical health status. The 2016–2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) databases were used to identify men with a history of PCa. We identified patients with self-reported PCa diagnosis and excluded the non-male gender respondents in the self-reported PCa patients. We performed descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression analysis examining the association between exercise and poor physical health status. Our exposure of interest was the amount of physical exercise, and primary outcome was poor physical health status, defined as >14 self-reported days per month when patients felt “physical health is not good.” Covariates included age, body mass index (BMI), income, treatment, smoking, and exercise frequency. From 2,193,981 weighted survey participants, we identified 3,952 men with a history of PCa. Of these, 75% of participants reported exercise within the last month. In adjusted analyses among men with a history of PCa, exercise (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.40–0.64, < 0.001) was associated with lower odds of poor physical health status. Other independent predictors of poor physical health included income (High: OR 0.27, 95% CI 0.18–0.41, < 0.01), BMI (underweight: OR 3.78, 95% CI 1.38–10.37, = 0.01), treatment status (Active: OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.05–2.94, = 0.03), smoking status (Active: OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.13–2.38, = 0.01). Our BRFSS cross-sectional study concluded that exercise among men with a history of PCa, even once per month, is associated with decreased odds of self-reported poor physical health; therefore, exercise programs should be considered for sedentary PCa patients.