TOPLINE:

Compared with inactive patterns, weekend warrior (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA] condensed into 1-2 days per week) and regular physical activity patterns were found to be equally effective at reducing the risk for lung cancer. Neither pattern showed significant associations with the overall risk for cancer or specific risks for prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers.

METHODOLOGY:

• This analysis included 80,896 participants (mean age, 55.5 years; 56% women) with valid accelerometer data collected between June 2013 and December 2015.
• Participants were classified into three groups: 32,213 active weekend warriors (≥ 150 minutes of weekly MVPA with ≥ 50% achieved in 1-2 days), 22,162 active regular participants (≥ 150 minutes of MVPA but not meeting a weekend warrior pattern), and 26,521 inactive participants (< 150 minutes of MVPA).
• Researchers tracked associations between physical activity patterns and incident cases of all types of cancer plus specific cases of prostate, breast, colorectal, and lung cancer over a median follow-up duration of 6 years.

TAKEAWAY:

• Compared with inactive patterns, active weekend warrior patterns showed a significant inverse association with the risk for lung cancer (hazard ratio [HR], 0.77; 95% CI, 0.61-0.98).
• Active regular activity patterns demonstrated similar protective effects against lung cancer as inactive patterns (HR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.56-0.96).
• Neither of the physical activity patterns showed any significant association with the overall risk for cancer or specific risks for prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers.

IN PRACTICE:

"Physical activity condensed into one to two days per week compared with a more balanced weekly distribution was associated with similar risk reductions of incident lung cancer, while neither pattern was associated with reduced overall, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers," the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Rubén López-Bueno, Department of Physical Medicine and Nursing, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. It was published online on September 06, 2025, in Annals of Medicine.

LIMITATIONS:

Participants might have modified their behaviour during the period when they wore accelerometers. The UK Biobank sample was not fully representative of the general UK adult population, limiting generalisability. A longer follow-up period would have provided more accurate estimates. The researchers could not include menopausal status as a potential modifier in the association between physical activity and the risk for breast cancer due to substantial missing data.

DISCLOSURES:

This study did not receive any external funding. The authors declared having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.