Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy DISE with Target Controlled Infusion TCI and Bispectral Analysis in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Published on: December 6, 2016
Obstructive sleep apnea severity, circulating biomarkers, and cancer risk
A J Hirsch Allen1, Tetyana Kendzerska2, Parveen Bhatti3,4
1Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Study Objectives:
To determine whether obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity and/or biomarkers of inflammation/angiogenesis are associated with incident cancer in this clinical cohort.
Methods:
Consenting adult patients at the University of British Columbia Hospital between 2003 and 2014 completed a questionnaire about their medical history and sleep habits prior to undergoing a polysomnogram. Blood samples were collected the morning after polysomnography and processed for biomarkers of inflammation and angiogenesis. The clinical, polysomnography, and biomarker data were linked to the British Columbia Cancer Registry to ascertain incident cancer diagnoses. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to assess the association between OSA severity and biomarker concentrations with cancer risk.
Results:
A total of 1,990 patients were included in the analysis with a mean follow-up time of 12.8 years; 181 of them (9.1%) developed cancer after polysomnography. OSA severity was significantly associated with cancer risk after controlling for relevant covariates (hazard ratio = 1.08 per 10 events/h apnea-hypopnea index increase, confidence interval = 1.02-1.15, P = .015). In an exploratory analysis, 2 biomarkers were significantly associated with an increased cancer risk after controlling for relevant covariates (hazard ratio per interquartile range pg/mL increase of endostatin = 1.45, confidence interval = 1.12-1.87, P = .01 and hazard ratio for interquartile range pg/mL increase of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 = 1.48, confidence interval = 1.04-2.11, P = .03, respectively).
Conclusions:
OSA severity was an independent risk factor for cancer. Furthermore, 2 circulating markers were significantly associated with cancer risk. If these preliminary findings can be reproduced in other cohorts, biomarkers could potentially be used to prognosticate patients with OSA with respect to cancer risk.
Citation:
Hirsch Allen AJ, Kendzerska T, Bhatti P, et al. Obstructive sleep apnea severity, circulating biomarkers, and cancer risk. J Clin Sleep Med. 2024;20(9):1415-1422.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Sleep Apnea
The condition is more prevalent among...
Other Pulmonary Disorders
Psychoneuroimmunology: Diabetes and Cancer
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System II: CRP, Hcy, and Cardiac Natriuretic Peptide Markers
These markers indicate stress or strain on the heart muscle:
Natriuretic Peptides (BNP)
Cardiac myocytes produce these hormones in response to ventricular stretching...
Insufficient Sleep and Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation is a more severe form of sleep loss...

