Sleep Apnoea and Cancer: Is There a Relationship?
José M. Marin 1, Eugenio Vicente 2, Marta Marin-Oto 3
1 Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IISAragón and CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias, Zaragoza, Spain; 2 Otorhinolaryngology Service, Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IISAragón, Zaragoza, Spain; 3 CIBER Enfermedades Respiratorias, Madrid, Spain
*Correspondence: Eugenio Vicente, Email not available
Abstract
In recent decades, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has come to represent a major public health problem due to its prevalence and its health consequences. Although the association between OSA and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is well recognized, its role as a promoter for the development and extension of neoplasms is less known. In recent years, intensive research on the subject has been developed. Bench and animal studies demonstrate how sleep fragmentation and intermittent hypoxia, characteristic phenomena of OSA, are capable of inducing tumorigenesis in various organs and cell lines. However, clinical and population-based epidemiological studies are showing certain contradictory results. These topics are reviewed and discussed in this paper.
