Grant: Fellowship - Priority Announcement: Lung Cancer

Introduction: Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers among Canadian men and women. Although smoking remains the single most important factor leading to lung cancer, only 15% of smokers eventually develop the disease. Therefore, much remains to be understood and it is clear that other modifiable lifestyle factors could influence our risk of developing lung cancer. This research focuses on identifying lifestyle behaviours that men and women can change in order to prevent lung cancer. Regular physical activity is one of the most important things we can do for our health. In fact, being physically active has been shown to decrease the risk of some cancers. There are many different types of of physical activity that a person may be involved in, including activity conducted at work and for recreational purposes. This research is the first to investigate whether work-place physical activity measured across the entire working life and engagement in recreational physical activity influences a person's risk of developing lung cancer in later life. Project Description: Our research is based on an existing study that was conducted between 1996 and 2001 in Montreal, Quebec. The study included 1,136 men and women newly diagnosed with lung cancer, and 1,457 people without lung cancer that were chosen to represent Montreal area residents who were at risk of developing lung cancer. In an interview, people were asked to recall participation in recreational physical activity 20 years ago. For work-place physical activity, participants were asked the main tasks that they performed for all jobs in their entire working life. The amount of work-place physical activity for each job was then assigned by a panel of experts. Impact and Relevance: There are many opportunities to prevent lung cancer; the more that we understand about factors that may cause cancers or prevent cancer from occurring in the first place will allow us to ultimately improve the health of Canadians.