A Review on the Role of Physical Activity in Cancer Prevention: Middle East Reports

Context: Cancer is the second cause of death. All cancer types are increasing in most countries. Almost 80% of cancer related deaths disproportionately happen in less developed countries. Middle East is a unique region with a huge wave of cancer. This cancer surge is sure to be a shock for people. The present review discusses current status of cancer and evidence related to cancer preventive effects of physical activity (PA) among studies conducted in the Middle East region.
Evidence Acquisition: A comprehensive search was performed in three major databases of Cochrane, Pubmed and Tripdatabase (up to January 2016). Among the resulted 32 English-language articles, eighteen were fully reviewed. Cancer preventive effects (as relative risks or risk reduction) were extracted and tabulated.
It had been confirmed earlier that regular PA decreases the risk of many diseases including some types of neoplasms. Exercise can play a crucial role indirectly through weight loss, but obesity prevention does not explain all impacts of PA. As a high proportion of people in developing countries have sedentary lifestyle, even a small risk may be associated with a high population-attributable risk (PAR). Although PA during rest and vocational activities are not protective, there is powerful evidence on strong preventive effect for vigorous intensity PA. The higher-intensity PA is more effective than exercise of longer duration. Existing clinical guidelines recommend at least 150 min of medium or 75 min of high-intensity exercise per week.
Totally about 9-19% of cancer cases are in strong relationship to physical inactivity. To better deal with the epidemic surge of cancer it is necessary to improve public knowledge on cancer preventive effect of PA. In one word some pivotal measures like avoiding tobacco exposure, consuming a healthy diet and staying physically active can substantially decrease one’s risk of cancer. Policymakers should decrease public exposure to carcinogens in the environment, and ensure that precise and sufficient information is provided for whole society and support them to adopt and implement healthy lifestyles.