Abstract
While physical inactivity is an established risk factor for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), prospective evidence comparing the efficacy of distinct physical activity (PA) patterns—specifically the “weekend warrior” (WW) versus regularly distributed activity—remains limited. This study analyzed data from 89,000 participants in the UK Biobank cohort who had no prior diagnosis of RCC. PA data were collected using the Axivity AX3 wrist-worn accelerometer. Participants were categorized into three subgroups: the inactive subgroup, the regularly active subgroup, and the subgroup adhering to the WW pattern. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the association between these PA patterns and the risk of RCC. Over a median follow-up period of 13.4 years, 286 individuals developed RCC. Using the WHO-recommended benchmark of 150 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA each week, results from the multivariate Cox model indicated that both the WW subgroup (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.46–0.78; P < 0.001) and the regularly active subgroup (HR = 0.49, 95% CI 0.34–0.70; P < 0.001) had a significantly lower risk of incident RCC relative to the inactive subgroup. Furthermore, no statistically significant disparity was observed between the active WW subgroup and the regularly active subgroup (HR 1.23, 95% CI 0.85–1.81; P = 0.269). In the UK Biobank cohort, both WW and regularly distributed PA patterns were associated with a significantly lower risk of RCC compared to inactivity, with no significant difference between the two active patterns.
Data availability
The UK Biobank data are available on application to the UK Biobank.
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Acknowledgements
The data used in this study were obtained from the UK Biobank (Application Number: 532564). The UK Biobank data were accessed and analyzed in accordance with the terms of the UK Biobank’s Access and Use Agreement. We are grateful to all the participants of UK Biobank and all the people involved in building the UK Biobank study.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no.82203365), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82400848) and Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation (20232BAB206090).
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F.Z.: Protocol, manuscript writing; Y.Y.: Protocol; J.L.: Data collection, data analysis; S.L.: Protocol, manuscript writing; S.X.: Manuscript writing; B.F.: Protocol; L.Z.: Protocol, data collection; J.Z.: Revision guidance, manuscript writing, data analysis, manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zheng, F., Yuan, Y., Luo, J. et al. Association between physical activity patterns and renal cell carcinoma risk: evidence from the UK biobank large-scale prospective cohort. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47677-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47677-2
