We examined the prevalence of psychological outcomes (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety) by age and age-varying associations between physical activity and psychological outcomes among rural cancer survivors. Participants (N = 219; ages 22–93) completed sociodemographic, psychological, and physical activity questionnaires. Time-varying effect models estimated the prevalence of psychological outcomes and assessed associations between physical activity and psychological outcomes as a flexible function of age. Depression and anxiety symptoms decreased with age among cancer survivors aged 22–40 years and were relatively stable across age among those > 40 years. Positive associations between vigorous physical activity and psychological outcomes in those aged 22–40 years were identified. In those > 70–80 years, there were negative associations between vigorous physical activity and psychological outcomes. Results suggest there is variation across age in the associations between physical activity and psychological outcomes among rural survivors. Future research should further explore these age-varying relationships to identify important intervention targets.

我们研究了农村癌症幸存者中不同年龄的心理结果（即抑郁和焦虑症状）的患病率以及体力活动与心理结果之间随年龄变化的关联。参与者（ N = 219；年龄 22-93）完成了社会人口统计、心理和身体活动调查问卷。时变效应模型估计了心理结果的发生率，并评估了体力活动和心理结果之间的关联，作为年龄的灵活函数。在 22-40 岁的癌症幸存者中，抑郁和焦虑症状随着年龄的增长而减少，而在 > 40 岁的癌症幸存者中，随着年龄的增长，抑郁和焦虑症状相对稳定。研究发现，22-40 岁年龄段的剧烈体力活动与心理结果之间存在正相关关系。在 > 70-80 岁中，剧烈的体力活动与心理结果之间存在负相关。结果表明，农村幸存者的体力活动与心理结果之间的关联存在随年龄变化的差异。未来的研究应该进一步探索这些随年龄变化的关系，以确定重要的干预目标。