Assessing Activity Limitation Among Cancer Survivors in Korea Using Data from a Nationwide Survey

Background: More than 1 million cancer survivors reside in Korea. We here investigated activity limitationsof cancer survivors compared to controls without a history of cancer. Materials and
Methods: Using the 4thand 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2012) data, we identified 1,155 adultcancer survivors. Activity limitations were defined as limitation in activities of daily living, experience of lying ina sickbed, and number of days lying in a sickbed during the last month. Descriptive analysis and multiple logisticregression compared these measures for survivors and controls by sex and age groups.
Results: Approximately29.4% of cancer survivors reported limitation in activities of daily living, 14.6% experienced lying in a sickbed,and 4.3% experienced more than 15 days lying in a sickbed during the last month. After controlling fordemographic and health-related factors, cancer survivors were more likely to report activity limitation thancontrols. The associations were similar across sex and age groups.
Conclusions: Cancer survivors have increasedactivity limitation compared to controls and these limitations persist across sex and age. Targeted interventionsand improved management are essential for improving cancer survivor daily life.