Trial Information

Physical Activity and Its Components in Relation to Plasma Inflammatory Markers of Cancer Risk Among Chinese Adults

In the past decade, China has experienced fundamental decreases in the populations' physical
activity levels, due to increasingly sedentary occupations and lifestyles. However, the
transition to a Western lifestyle has not reached the entire Chinese population. The
resulting wide range of between-person variation in physical activity provides an
unparalleled opportunity for physical activity studies. Although physical activity
measurement techniques have evolved considerably over the past years, the main obstacle in
quantifying physical activity is the complexity of precisely measuring its individual
components, particularly low to moderate-intensity activities.

Recently, investigators at Vanderbilt University, the Shanghai Cancer Institute, and the
DCEG initiated two prospective population-based cohort studies: the Shanghai Women's Cohort
and the Shanghai Men's Cohort. The aim of these studies is to prospectively examine the
relations of diet, lifestyle, occupational, and environmental risk factors, as well as
genetic variation, to cancer incidence among 75,000 women and 73,000 men, aged 40 to 70
years old, and residing in Shanghai, China. We propose to coduct a study among 600 women and
men participating in these two cohort studies. The specific objectives of the current study
are to develop a comprehensive physical activity questionnaire and to assess the validity
and reliability of this instrument in the Shanghai cohorts using objective measures of
physical activity/physical fitness: activity monitors, and the Modified Canadian Aerobic
Fitness Test. In addition, we intend to evaluate whether different types and parameters of
physical activity are associated with circulating levels of specific inflammatory markers
that have been linked to cancer risk. The specific markers are C-reactive protein (CRP),
interleukin 6 (IL-6), and soluble tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a). The impact of
potentially confounding variables of the association between physical activity and
inflammatory markers, such as recent exercise, use of anti-inflammatory drugs, and current
or recent infections, will be carefully accounted for in the analysis.