Time for some exercise

Cancer treatments in childhood and adolescence can cause health problems later in life. These in turn can restrict former childhood cancer patients, also known as survivors, in their everyday activities and sport. It is therefore particularly important to get enough exercise and not to sit too much after cancer. This helps to prevent health problems, for example of the heart or lungs.

The “SCCSS-Activity” study analyses how much survivors move and do some form of exercise, how much they sit and how much they sleep. The study team sends the study participants a small, inconspicuous motion sensor by post, which they stick to their thigh with a plaster. They then wear the motion sensor for a week. During this week, those affected can do everything they would normally do – go to school or work, watch films, eat, cook, exercise, shower. The study team then analyses the data from the sensor and can thus determine how much the survivors have moved, how much they have sat and how much they have slept. The study team also wants to find out which survivors hardly move at all and do a lot of sitting. This helps to understand which survivors need special support to get enough exercise. In this way, SCCSS-Activity helps to prevent health problems and improve the quality of life of those affected.

SCCSS-Activity is coordinated by and carried out at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern. The study is funded by Childhood Cancer Switzerland and the UniBern Research Foundation.

If you would like to take part in the trial or find out more about it, please contact Carina Nigg (MD) (carina.nigg2@unibe.ch).