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By Barry N. Chase, DDS, PC, D. ABDSM, D. ACSDD –
My uncle Moe often said, “You don’t know what you don’t know”. So, if you don’t know what you don’t know you are “better safe than sorry”. Uncle Moe called himself a Fortune Cookie philosopher.
New research is now linking Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) with an increase in Cancer risk. The evidence seems to be strong. But medical research doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, so better safe than sorry.
What does that mean? If you have symptoms of OSA, snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, lapses of breathing while sleeping, waking with headaches,
along with high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, memory loss, and/or diabetes, you should ask your doctor about getting a sleep study. OR, if you have been diagnosed with OSA, you should be receiving therapy; either CPAP or Oral Appliance Therapy.
The hallmark of OSA is intermittent loss of Oxygen while you are sleeping. This is caused by airway restriction when snoring or a complete obstruction of the airway during sleep. The loss of Oxygen is called Hypoxia. It is the trigger between OSA and high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia, Diabetes, and now cancer.
Researchers in Spain reported the most severe forms of sleep apnea had a 65 percent greater risk of developing cancer. The second study, of about 1,500 government workers in Wisconsin, showed that patients had five times the rate of dying from cancer as people without sleep apnea. Both research teams only looked at cancer diagnoses and outcomes in general, without focusing on any specific type of cancer.
The studies were presented at the American Thoracic Society. The usual risk factors for cancer, age, smoking, alcohol use, etc. were ruled out. The association between cancer and disordered breathing remained after adjusted variables.
University of Barcelona in Spain researches found that when mice were deprived of oxygen periodically during sleep, skin cancer tumors grew faster.
The researchers found that the more severe a person’s breathing problems at night, the greater likelihood of dying from cancer.
People with mild sleep apnea had a 10 percent increased risk of cancer death; moderate sleep apnea had doubled the risk and severe sleep apnea had a 4.8 times higher risk of cancer death.
Dr. Nieto said the study didn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship, but the link between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cancer is strong. “When you have cancer and you have episodes of low oxygen, the cancer cells try to compensate for the lack of oxygen by growing additional blood vessels to get more oxygen and, as those blood vessels keep growing, it helps the tumor to spread”.
Researchers with the Spanish Sleep Network looked at cancer incidence, not mortality. They used the hypoxemia index which measures the amount of time the level of oxygen in a person’s blood drops below 90 percent during sleep.
About 5,200 people were followed for seven years, none of whom had a cancer diagnosis. The researchers found that the greater the extent of hypoxemia, or oxygen depletion, during sleep, the more likely a person would receive a cancer diagnosis during the study period.
People whose oxygen levels dropped below 90 percent for up to 12 percent of the total time had a 68 percent greater likelihood of developing cancer. As time spent without oxygen increased, so did the risk of cancer.
There is a lot of wisdom in those fortune cookies. My uncle Moe wasn’t a doctor but his advice is sound, better safe than sorry. If you have Sleep Apnea and a history of Cancer in your family, please seek more information about sleep apnea testing and therapy.
Location of an office near you:
Theodore Field, DMD
Chase Dental SleepCare of Boca Raton
3020 N. Military Trl., Suite 250
Boca Raton, FL 33431
(561) 443-4133
Randy L. Furshman, DDS & Associates
Chase Dental SleepCare of South Florida
7800 SW 87th Ave., Suite A-140, Miami, FL 33173
(305) 598-2622
David Skopp, DDS
Chase Dental SleepCare of Palm Beach Gardens
2560 RCA Blvd, Suite 105
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 33410
(561) 799-5000
Stephen J. Pyle, DDS
Chase Dental SleepCare of Weston
2239 N. Commerce Pkwy., Suite 1
Weston, FL 33326
(954) 349-4004
Mauricio Malo, DDS
Chase Dental SleepCare of Hollywood
2525 Embassy Dr. #1, Hollywood, FL 33026
(954) 430-3444
Listopad & Finder, DDS
Chase Dental SleepCare of Coral Springs
10161 W Sample Rd., Coral Springs, FL 33065
(954) 752-2970
Fabrizio K. Amador, DMD
Chase Dental SleepCare of Ft. Lauderdale
2330 NE 9th Street
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33304
(954) 563-5535
David S. Bistritz, DDS
Chase Dental SleepCare of Aventura
18171 Biscayne Blvd
Aventura, Florida 33160
(305) 933-2501
John L. Tumminia, DMD
200 Knuth Rd, Suite 140
Boynton Beach, Fl 33436
(561) 737-1600
G. W. Shamback, DDS & Peter Barnard, DMD
821 South East Ocean Blvd, Suite E
Stuart, Florida 34994
(772) 283-4427
