Associations of self-reported obstructive sleep apnea with total and site-specific cancer risk in older women: a prospective study

Sleep. 2021 Mar 12;44(3):zsaa198. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa198.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Chronic intermittent hypoxia resulting from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may activate multiple carcinogenic pathways and lead to cancer development.

Methods: We prospectively examined the association between OSA and cancer risk among 65,330 women in the Nurses' Health Study who were free of cancer in 2008 (mean age: 73.3 years). Incident cancer diagnoses were collected until 2016 and confirmed by pathology reports. Clinically diagnosed OSA was self-reported in 2008 and updated in 2012. We used time-dependent Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for the associations of OSA with total and site-specific cancer risk.

Results: We documented 5,257 incident cancer diagnoses during follow-up. In the age-adjusted model, OSA was associated with a 15% (95% CI: 1.03, 1.29) increase in total cancer risk. The association became nonsignificant after adjustment for multiple cancer risk factors (HR: 1.08; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.21). When examining cancer risk by site, OSA was associated with significantly increased risk for lung (fully adjusted HR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.17), bladder (fully adjusted HR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.12, 3.35), and thyroid cancer (fully adjusted HR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.01, 4.22) and possibly increased risk for kidney cancer (fully adjusted HR: 1.59; 95% CI: 0.84, 3.01). When grouping cancer sites by risk factor profiles, OSA was positively associated with smoking-related cancers (fully adjusted HR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.67), and this association was stronger in never smokers than ever smokers.

Conclusion: While OSA was not independently associated with overall cancer risk in older women, significant associations were observed for smoking-related cancers, especially in nonsmokers.

Keywords: cancer risk; cohort study; hypoxia; obstructive sleep apnea; risk factors; women.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms* / epidemiology
  • Neoplasms* / etiology
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Self Report
  • Sleep Apnea, Obstructive* / epidemiology