The preventive role of cardiorespiratory fitness in current male smokers who meet the American Cancer Society criteria for lung cancer screening: a prospective pilot study.

PURPOSE

Survival benefits could be potentially improved by adding cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) to lung cancer screening. The current pilot study aimed to assess the association between CRF and adverse outcomes in current male smokers who are meeting the American Cancer Society (ACS) criteria for lung cancer screening.

METHODS

A total of 260 men with a baseline CRF assessment (treadmill exercise test) who are met the ACS lung cancer screening criteria ("current smokers aged 55-74 years with ≥ 30 pack/years smoking history") were prospectively studied. Cox proportional hazard models were analyzed for all-cause and cancer mortality, total and lung cancer incidence.

RESULTS

Mean age was 63.3 ± 5.4 years, smoking history 50.4 ± 26.7 pack/years, and CRF was 7.8 ± 3.2 metabolic equivalents (METs). During a mean of 10.2 ± 6.1 years follow-up, 80 participants developed any type of cancer, 19 were diagnosed with lung cancer and 66 died (cancer, n = 39, other causes, n = 27). In multivariable models, only CRF was associated with all-cause and cancer mortality. Each 1-MET higher CRF was associated with a 10% reduced risk for all-cause mortality [0.9, 95% CI (0.83 to 0.98), p = 0.017] and cancer mortality [0.9, 95% CI (0.8 to 0.99), p = 0.048]. CRF was not associated with total cancer incidence (p = 0.59) or lung cancer incidence (p = 0.96).

CONCLUSION

Higher CRF is independently associated with lower risk of all-cause and cancer mortality in current male smokers who meet the ACS criteria for lung cancer screening. Screening for CRF and achieving higher CRF levels could potentially reduce mortality and serve as complementary preventive strategy in heavy smokers.