Every month, I take time to write these blogs to help educate people about the negative health effects associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and the importance of getting it properly diagnosed and treated. I hope my point is getting across out there.
If you or someone you love regularly experiences OSA symptoms, such as snoring and disordered (interrupted) breathing, here’s another reason to get it checked out: Two new studies claim that OSA sufferers are more likely to die from cancer.
Their findings are significant because it marks the first time that cancer growth has been associated with sleep apnea in people. In a previous study about a year ago, Spanish researchers had already linked the intermittent lack of oxygen caused by OSA—known as hypoxia—with increased tumor growth in mice. That study also found that the mice had more dead cells, which indicates a more aggressive type of cancer.
In one of the new studies, researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health studied data on about 1,500 state workers who have been taking part in overnight sleep studies every four years since 1989.
The researchers found that people with severe sleep apnea who had the most intermittent disordered breathing problems were almost five times more likely to die from cancer than those without OSA. They also found that people considered to have moderate cases of OSA died of cancer at double the rate than those without OSA at all.
This is consistent with the hypoxemia theory—that an increase of interrupted/disordered breathing is actually contributing to cancer cell growth … because the body is being depleted of oxygen.
What the researchers also discovered—and what I found particularly notable—was that when OSA patients who were being treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy were removed from the Wisconsin study, the OSA/cancer association increased. In other words, OSA patients who undergo CPAP treatment—who lower their interrupted/disordered breathing episodes—may likely reduce their risk of dying from cancer due to OSA-related oxygen depletion.
In the second related study, researchers at the Spanish Sleep Network used the hypoxemia index, which measures the amount of time the level of oxygen in a person’s blood drops below 90 percent at night.
The researchers followed more than 5,000 OSA patients for seven years. None of them had any cancer diagnosis when the study began, but they found that those with the most severe forms of sleep apnea had a 65 percent greater risk of developing cancer of any kind. In other words, the greater the extent of oxygen depletion during sleep, the more likely a person was to be diagnosed with cancer during the study.
It should be noted that, in both the Wisconsin and Spanish studies, the researchers only looked at cancer diagnoses and deaths in general, not the specific type of cancer.
The takeaway for all of is that this is one more study … one more reason … for you or someone you love with OSA-related paused/intermittent breathing issues to take sleep apnea seriously and get diagnosed asap.
If you or someone you love regularly experiences OSA symptoms, such as snoring and disordered (interrupted) breathing, here’s another reason to get it checked out: Two new studies claim that OSA sufferers are more likely to die from cancer.
Their findings are significant because it marks the first time that cancer growth has been associated with sleep apnea in people. In a previous study about a year ago, Spanish researchers had already linked the intermittent lack of oxygen caused by OSA—known as hypoxia—with increased tumor growth in mice. That study also found that the mice had more dead cells, which indicates a more aggressive type of cancer.
In one of the new studies, researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health studied data on about 1,500 state workers who have been taking part in overnight sleep studies every four years since 1989.
The researchers found that people with severe sleep apnea who had the most intermittent disordered breathing problems were almost five times more likely to die from cancer than those without OSA. They also found that people considered to have moderate cases of OSA died of cancer at double the rate than those without OSA at all.
This is consistent with the hypoxemia theory—that an increase of interrupted/disordered breathing is actually contributing to cancer cell growth … because the body is being depleted of oxygen.
What the researchers also discovered—and what I found particularly notable—was that when OSA patients who were being treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy were removed from the Wisconsin study, the OSA/cancer association increased. In other words, OSA patients who undergo CPAP treatment—who lower their interrupted/disordered breathing episodes—may likely reduce their risk of dying from cancer due to OSA-related oxygen depletion.
In the second related study, researchers at the Spanish Sleep Network used the hypoxemia index, which measures the amount of time the level of oxygen in a person’s blood drops below 90 percent at night.
The researchers followed more than 5,000 OSA patients for seven years. None of them had any cancer diagnosis when the study began, but they found that those with the most severe forms of sleep apnea had a 65 percent greater risk of developing cancer of any kind. In other words, the greater the extent of oxygen depletion during sleep, the more likely a person was to be diagnosed with cancer during the study.
It should be noted that, in both the Wisconsin and Spanish studies, the researchers only looked at cancer diagnoses and deaths in general, not the specific type of cancer.
The takeaway for all of is that this is one more study … one more reason … for you or someone you love with OSA-related paused/intermittent breathing issues to take sleep apnea seriously and get diagnosed asap.
