Background: Cancer diagnosis may be a cue for health behavior change. Previous research that assessed the impact of a cancer diagnosis on multiple health behavior (MHB) change is limited by small sample size, cross‐sectional study design, and a focus on individual rather than multiple behaviors. This study investigated the impact of a cancer diagnosis on compliance with MHB recommendations.Methods: Data from Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) were utilized. Compliance with MHB was assessed by cancer survivorship period; 0‐3 years pre‐diagnosis, 0‐3 years postdiagnosis, 4‐12 years postdiagnosis, and compared to controls. A MHB score based on the WCRF/AICR guidelines was calculated for six behaviors (physical activity, smoking, alcohol, BMI, fruit, and vegetable intake); scores ranged from 0 to 6, with a higher score indicating higher compliance. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used for statistical analysis.Results: Participants comprised 7585 women from the 2001 ALSWH survey, of whom 2285 developed cancer during 15 years of follow‐up. Compared to controls, the mean MHB score was slightly lower (Mean Difference (MD) = −0.015, P > .05) in survivors pre‐diagnosis, after adjusting for confounders; however, the compliance score increased during postdiagnosis, with the mean difference score being significantly higher in recent survivors (0‐3 years post diagnosis; MD = 0.055, P < .01). Likewise, within cancer survivors, the mean compliance score significantly increased 0‐3 years postdiagnosis (MD = 0.07, P < .05) compared to pre‐diagnosis, but this significant improvement was not maintained over the longer term (MD = 0.037, P > .05).Conclusion: In this sample, survivors had higher MHB score than controls. A cancer diagnosis may provide a teachable moment for health behavior change in the period immediately following diagnosis, but this effect was not sustained during longer‐term survivorship.

Lifestyle behaviours have an important role in preventing cancer, reducing treatment side effects, and improving survival and quality of life for cancer survivors. This study investigated adherence to multiple lifestyle behaviours among women with and without a cancer history. From the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) surveys, 2407 cancer survivors and 3896 controls (cancer free population) were identified. Based on the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) recommendations, adherence to six health behaviours (smoking, physical activity, fruit and vegetable intake, alcohol consumption, sugary drink intake, and Body Mass Index [BMI]) were assessed. Overall adherence was low, and there were no differences between survivors and controls on adherence to any of the six individual health behaviours. However, both recent and long-term cancer survivors were more likely than controls to adhere to multiple health behaviours (p < 0.05). When participants with melanoma or non-melanoma skin cancer were excluded, adherence was less likely (but not significant) in the cancer group than controls. Higher education (p < 0.01), being married (p < 0.01), and lower comorbidity of chronic illnesses (p < 0.01) were significantly associated with adherence to multiple lifestyle behaviours. Overall, the findings suggest that a cancer diagnosis may result in increased compliance with multiple health behaviour guidelines.

Numerous studies have reported lower overall cancer mortality rates among immigrants compared to native populations. However, limited information exists regarding cancer mortality among immigrants based on specific birth countries and cancer types. We used population‐based registries and followed 10 million individuals aged 20 years or older in Sweden between 1992 and 2016. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to explore the disparities in cancer mortality by country of birth and cancer type, stratified by gender. Age‐standardized mortality rates were also computed using the world standard population. Hazard ratio (HR) of all‐site cancer was slightly lower among immigrants (males: HR_m = 0.97: 95% confidence interval: 0.95, 0.98; females: HR_f = 0.93: 0.91, 0.94) than Swedish‐born population. However, the immigrants showed higher mortality for infection‐related cancers, including liver (HR_f = 1.10: 1.01, 1.19; HR_m = 1.10: 1.02, 1.17), stomach (HR_f = 1.39: 1.31, 1.49; HR_m = 1.33: 1.26, 1.41) cancers, and tobacco‐related cancers, including lung (HR_m = 1.44: 1.40, 1.49), and laryngeal cancers (HR_m = 1.47: 1.24, 1.75). The HR of mesothelioma was also significantly higher in immigrants (HR_f = 1.44: 1.10, 1.90). Mortality from lung cancer was specifically higher in men from Nordic (HR_m = 1.41: 1.27, 1.55) and non‐Nordic Europe (HR_m = 1.49: 1.43, 1.55) countries and lower in Asian (HR_m = 0.78: 0.66, 0.93) and South American men (HR_m = 0.70: 0.57, 0.87). In conclusion, there are large variations in cancer mortality by country of birth, and cancer type and require regular surveillance. Our detailed analyses lead to some novel findings such as excess mortality rate of mesothelioma and laryngeal cancers in Immigrants in Sweden. A targeted cancer prevention program among immigrants in Sweden is needed.