Activity is associated with health among older adults yet older adults’ favorite activities have rarely been investigated. We analyzed the community dwelling, cognitively-intact sample of NHATS, a nationally representative sample of adults ≥65, who had named their favorite activities (N = 5247). Logistic regression models estimated the odds of choosing a physical activity controlling for demographics, self-rated health, and disability. For all ages, four of the top five most common favorite activities were active: walking/jogging (14%), outdoor maintenance (13%), playing sports (8.9%), and other physical activity (8.7%). These findings sustain in 65–75 year olds. Even in 80–84 year olds, 3 of the top five activities are active. These findings vary by self-rated health (OR = 0.71, p < 0.001), disability (OR = 0.72, p < 0.001) and gender (OR = 0.52, p < 0.001). Policy makers, clinicians, and urban planners can use these results in their work.

The global market for activity trackers is growing, which presents clinicians with a tremendous opportunity to incorporate these devices into clinical practice as tools to promote activity. This article highlights important considerations about tracker accuracy and usage by cancer survivors.

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Purpose: To determine whether there were significant differences in self-report and objective measures of physical fitness and function between women post–breast cancer (BC) treatment with and without clinically significant fatigue. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of baseline data collected from 281 postmenopausal women post–BC treatment (62 ± 10 years; time since diagnosis = 5.6 ± 3.9 years) who participated in prior exercise trials. Scores on the SF-36 (36-Item Short Form Health Survey) vitality subscale (0-100) were used to identify women with clinically significant fatigue, where a score of 45 or less represents fatigue and a score of 70 or more represents no fatigue. Objectively measured function included maximal leg press strength (kg), physical function battery, timed chair stand, Unipedal Stance Test, and gait characteristics. Self-reported outcomes included physical function, pain, mental health, sensory symptoms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), habitual physical activity level, and fall history. Results: Twenty percent of women (n = 57) reported clinically significant fatigue 6 years postdiagnosis, whereas 34% (n = 100) reported no fatigue. Except for leg strength, unipedal stance, step length, and base of support while walking, fatigued women had significantly worse objectively measured function than women without fatigue. Fatigued women also reported poorer physical function, greater bodily pain, and poorer mental health and were twice as likely as nonfatigued women to report symptoms of CIPN and having fallen. Conclusions: Women with a history of BC, and in particular those with CIPN, should be routinely screened for clinically significant fatigue in the survivorship period. Clinical and survivorship care plans aimed at limiting functional decline and reducing falls in survivors of BC should include fatigue-reduction strategies.

Participation refers to a state of health in which a person is able to fully engage in roles and life situations. Adults living with and beyond cancer often report persistent participation restrictions that affect their productivity and quality of life. The American Occupational Therapy Foundation convened a group of scientists from seven different disciplines in a Planning Grant Collective (PGC) to stimulate research to identify scalable ways to preserve and optimize participation among cancer survivors. Participants identified challenges, prioritized solutions, and generated novel research questions that move beyond symptom and impairment mitigation as outcomes to identify interventions that improve participation in roles and life situations. This article summarizes the PGC discussion and recommendations regarding three challenges: (a) the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of participation, (b) a need to integrate the concept of participation within the culture of oncology, and (c) identification of priority areas in which new lines of research regarding participation would be most impactful.