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. 2020 Jan 30;11(1):597.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14389-8.

Physical activity and risks of breast and colorectal cancer: a Mendelian randomisation analysis

Nikos Papadimitriou  1 Niki Dimou  1 Konstantinos K Tsilidis  2   3 Barbara Banbury  4 Richard M Martin  5   6   7 Sarah J Lewis  6 Nabila Kazmi  5 Timothy M Robinson  6 Demetrius Albanes  8 Krasimira Aleksandrova  9 Sonja I Berndt  8 D Timothy Bishop  10 Hermann Brenner  11   12   13 Daniel D Buchanan  14   15   16 Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita  17   18   19   20 Peter T Campbell  21 Sergi Castellví-Bel  22 Andrew T Chan  23   24 Jenny Chang-Claude  25   26 Merete Ellingjord-Dale  3 Jane C Figueiredo  27   28 Steven J Gallinger  29 Graham G Giles  14   30 Edward Giovannucci  31   32   33 Stephen B Gruber  34 Andrea Gsur  35 Jochen Hampe  36 Heather Hampel  37 Sophia Harlid  38 Tabitha A Harrison  4 Michael Hoffmeister  11 John L Hopper  14   39 Li Hsu  4   40 José María Huerta  41   42 Jeroen R Huyghe  4 Mark A Jenkins  14 Temitope O Keku  43 Tilman Kühn  25 Carlo La Vecchia  44   45 Loic Le Marchand  46 Christopher I Li  4 Li Li  47 Annika Lindblom  48   49 Noralane M Lindor  50 Brigid Lynch  14   30   51 Sanford D Markowitz  52 Giovanna Masala  53 Anne M May  54 Roger Milne  14   30   55 Evelyn Monninkhof  54 Lorena Moreno  22 Victor Moreno  41   56   57 Polly A Newcomb  4   58 Kenneth Offit  59   60 Vittorio Perduca  61   62   63 Paul D P Pharoah  64 Elizabeth A Platz  65 John D Potter  4 Gad Rennert  66   67   68 Elio Riboli  3 Maria-Jose Sánchez  41   69 Stephanie L Schmit  34   70 Robert E Schoen  71 Gianluca Severi  61   62 Sabina Sieri  72 Martha L Slattery  73 Mingyang Song  23   24   31   32 Catherine M Tangen  74 Stephen N Thibodeau  75 Ruth C Travis  76 Antonia Trichopoulou  44 Cornelia M Ulrich  77 Franzel J B van Duijnhoven  78 Bethany Van Guelpen  79   80 Pavel Vodicka  81   82   83 Emily White  4   84 Alicja Wolk  85 Michael O Woods  86 Anna H Wu  87 Ulrike Peters  4   84 Marc J Gunter #  1 Neil Murphy #  88
Affiliations

Physical activity and risks of breast and colorectal cancer: a Mendelian randomisation analysis

Nikos Papadimitriou et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Physical activity has been associated with lower risks of breast and colorectal cancer in epidemiological studies; however, it is unknown if these associations are causal or confounded. In two-sample Mendelian randomisation analyses, using summary genetic data from the UK Biobank and GWA consortia, we found that a one standard deviation increment in average acceleration was associated with lower risks of breast cancer (odds ratio [OR]: 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.27 to 0.98, P-value = 0.04) and colorectal cancer (OR: 0.66, 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.90, P-value = 0.01). We found similar magnitude inverse associations for estrogen positive (ER+ve) breast cancer and for colon cancer. Our results support a potentially causal relationship between higher physical activity levels and lower risks of breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Based on these data, the promotion of physical activity is probably an effective strategy in the primary prevention of these commonly diagnosed cancers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Where authors are identified as personnel of the International Agency for Research on Cancer/World Health Organization, the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization. The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Mendelian randomisation analysis for individual SNPs associated with accelerometer-measured physical activity in relation to breast cancer risk using the genetic instrument from the GWAS by Doherty et al..
The x axis corresponds to a log OR per one unit increase in the physical activity based on the average acceleration (milligravities). The Mendelian randomisation (MR) result corresponds to a random effects model due to heterogeneity across the genetic instruments. logOR = log odds ratio (black filled circle). 95% CI = 95% confidence interval (black line). SNP single nucleotide polymorphism.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Mendelian randomisation analysis for individual SNPs associated with accelerometer-measured physical activity in relation to colorectal cancer risk (overall, colon, rectal) using the genetic instrument from the GWAS by Doherty et al..
The x axis corresponds to a log OR per one unit increase in the physical activity based on the average acceleration (milli-gravities). The Mendelian randomisation (MR) result corresponds to a random effects model due to heterogeneity across the genetic instruments. logOR = log odds ratio (black filled circle). 95% CI = 95% confidence interval (black line). SNP single nucleotide polymorphism.

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