Sleep quality, stress and thyroid cancer: a case-control study

Stress and sleep disturbance have been found to be associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, including cancer. Our study aimed to measure the association between quality of sleep, short-temperedness, and stress in life with the risk of thyroid cancer.

The present study is conducted on 361 newly diagnosed TC patients and 347 sex-age frequency matched controls. Control and case participants were registered with the same health centers. We used multiple logistic regression to investigate the association between TC risk and the interested factors.

Based on the results of the multivariate analysis, stress (OR_{always stressful/often calm} = 3.07, 95% CI 1.42-6.63) and short-temperedness (OR_nervous/calm = 2.00, 95% CI 1.28-3.11) were directly associated with the risk of TC. On the other hand having a quality sleep (OR_{sometimes/never} = 0.36, 95% CI 0.16-0.79) and quality sleep (OR_often/no = 0.45, 95% CI 0.21-0.96, P = 0.041) seems to be a protective factor.

Some community-based interventions, e.g., lowering stress levels and improving sleep quality, may help in preventing different types of cancer, including TC. We suggest further evaluation of these important findings in the prevention of TC cancer.