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Relationship between physical activity and quality of life among patients with respiratory and digestive system cancer during and outside the COVID-19 pandemic

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between physical activity (PA) and quality of life (QOL) among patients with respiratory and digestive system cancers during and outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A longitudinal, repeated-measures observational design was employed, and data were collected from outpatient clinics and wards during both the pandemic and a nonpandemic period at baseline (T1) and 3 months postrecruitment (T2). The Bouchard 3-Day Physical Activity Record questionnaire and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Core Questionnaire (physical function subscale) were used to measure PA and QOL, respectively.

Results

A total of 313 patients with various cancers (including lung, esophageal, gastric, pancreatic, and colon cancers) participated in this study. Light-intensity PA was significantly and positively correlated with the physical function dimension of QOL during both the pandemic (r = 0.31, p < 0.001) and nonpandemic (r = 0.15, p = 0.010) periods. Furthermore, light-intensity PA was a significant predictor of the physical function dimension of QOL during both the pandemic and nonpandemic periods (B = 0.04, p < 0.001; B = 0.02, p = 0.007, respectively).

Conclusions

Light-intensity PA is a critical predictor of the physical function domain of QOL in patients with respiratory and digestive system cancers during both pandemic and nonpandemic periods. Promoting engagement in tolerable PA may improve the health of these patients.

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Data Availability

Data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study received support from the National Science and Technology Council of Taiwan (grant no. NSTC 113–2314-B-227–007-MY3).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, College of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei City, 112303, Taiwan

    Hui-Mei Chen

  2. Department of Nursing, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei City, 112201, Taiwan

    Jiu-Yun Tian, Wei-Ling Gao & Pei-Shan Ho

  3. Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch, Hsinchu City, 300195, Taiwan

    Zih-Yun Deng

  4. Department of Nursing, Shu-Zen College of Medicine and Management, Kaohsiung City, 82144, Taiwan

    Yi-Yun Lin

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Contributions

Hui-Mei Chen: Conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, funding acquisition, methodology, validation, resources, visualization, supervision, project administration, roles/writing—original draft, review, and editing. Jiu-Yun Tian: Data curation, roles/writing—original draft, review, and editing. Wei-Ling Gao: Data curation, investigation, visualization, roles/writing—review and editing. Zih-Yun Deng: Data curation, investigation, visualization, roles/writing—review and editing. Pei-Shan Ho: Data curation, investigation, roles/writing—review and editing. Yi-Yun Lin: Data curation, investigation, roles/writing—original draft, review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hui-Mei Chen.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study adhered to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (Study ID Number: VGHIRB 98–12-15A for lung cancer; TPEVGH IRB 2017–04-001A for esophageal cancer; TPEVGH IRB 2020–10-006A for gastric cancer; and TPEVGH IRB 2021–12-005A for pancreas cancer), and Research Ethics Committee D of National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (Study ID Number: NTUH-REC 110–146-E). All patients provided informed consent prior to the study and were informed that they were free to withdraw for any reason.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chen, HM., Tian, JY., Gao, WL. et al. Relationship between physical activity and quality of life among patients with respiratory and digestive system cancer during and outside the COVID-19 pandemic. Support Care Cancer 33, 288 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-025-09334-8

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