Cancer prevalence is increased in females with sleep apnoea: data from the ESADA study

There is growing, but debatable evidence for the potential association between obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and cancer [1–10]. Available studies have reached contradictory conclusions due to limited sample sizes, and poor characterisation of OSA phenotypes or type of malignancies (all types [1–4] or site specific [6–8]). Several hypotheses have been formulated proposing why carcinogenesis can occur in the context of OSA, including older age, sleep deprivation [11, 12] and concomitant obesity [13]. Intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation may play a significant role via alterations in angiogenesis, sympathetic outflow, or modulation of immune function and tumour microenvironment [11, 12]. Gender-specific differences in the association between OSA and cancer prevalence have been poorly studied.

Source: European Respiratory Journal - June 19, 2019 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Pataka, A., Bonsignore, M. R., Ryan, S., Riha, R. L., Pepin, J.-L., Schiza, S., Basoglu, O. K., Sliwinski, P., Ludka, O., Steiropoulos, P., Anttalainen, U., McNicholas, W. T., Hedner, J., Grote, L., on behalf of the ESADA study group Tags: Original Articles: Research letters Source Type: research