First, let’s look at the causes and patterns of sleep apnea. When the muscles in the back of your throat relax too much, they do not allow for normal breathing. The muscles support your mouth roof (soft palate), the hanging tissue from the soft palate (uvula), the tongue, and the tonsils.
When these muscles are relaxed, the airway narrows as you breathe, lowering the oxygen level in your blood and causing a buildup of carbon dioxide. Your brain is triggered by the impairment in breathing which rouses you from sleep. Snorting, choking, or gasping is correcting the problem with a few deep breaths.
Linking OSA and Cancer
Connections between sleep apnea and the growth of tumors are finding steady progress in several recent research studies. The main connection is low oxygen from obstructive breathing. “The blockage of someone’s airway may promote a process called neovascularization, which is the growth of new blood vessels. This process may end up encouraging tumor growth.”
The best solution for individuals worried about both sleep apnea and cancer is prevention. Making healthier lifestyle choices are commonly found to lower the risk of both diagnoses:
Quit smoking
Lower alcohol use
Exercise consistently
Weight management
Physician-led treatment of any other medical conditions
Improving sleep quality
Patients who have been diagnosed with OSA can also find natural remedies.
Recent Studies
Andreas Palm, a researcher and senior consultant at Uppsala University, Sweden, presented a large study on obstructive sleep apnea’s (OSA) relationship with cancer risk. Palm’s study reviewed data from more than 62,000 patients five years prior to their OSA diagnosis and linked data points to the Swedish National Cancer Registry and socio-economic data from Statistics Sweden.
“We found that patients with cancer had slightly more severe OSA, as measured by an apnea-hypopnea index average of 32 versus 30, and an oxygen desaturation index [ODI] of 28 versus 26,” he says. “In further analysis of subgroups, ODI was higher in patients with lung cancer (38 versus 27) prostate cancer (28 versus 24), and malignant melanoma (32 versus 25).
“The findings in this study highlight the need to consider untreated sleep apnea as a risk factor for cancer and for doctors to be aware of the possibility of cancer when treating patients with OSA. However, extending screening for cancer to all OSA patients is not justified or recommended by our study results.”
A second study in 2020 also found a link between OSA and the development of cancer. With 34,000 individuals participating in an overnight sleep study, different subtypes of cancer were also reviewed.
The study’s author, Dr. Tetyana Kendzerska, shared that “Limited by a relatively small sample size and multiple comparisons, we found colorectal, kidney, lung and smoking-related cancer subtypes to be all directionally consistently associated with an increased hazard of incident cancer, adjusting for known risk factors.”
Although there is a lot of work ahead of researchers, trends in healthcare are finding an increase in obesity which increases the chances of sleep apnea diagnoses. If you have any questions or concerns regarding obstructive sleep apnea or any other sleep-related questions, feel free to contact The Alaska Sleep Clinic for further information and be on your way to getting the nightly rest you need.
