Cancer survival may depend on sleep duration and quality

Cancer survival may depend on sleep duration and quality

11 Jun 2015

A new study suggests that pre-diagnostic short sleep duration and frequent snoring were associated with significantly poorer cancer-specific survival, particularly among women with breast cancer.

Results show that short sleep duration and frequent snoring were associated with significantly poorer breast cancer-specific survival.

Putting several sleep attributes under the microscope

The study group comprised of 21,230 women diagnosed with a first primary invasive cancer during follow-up from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). Participants provided information on several sleep attributes at study baseline, including:

  • Sleep duration,
  • Snoring, and
  • Components of the WHI Insomnia Rating Scale.

CareAcross-sleep-woman

“Sleep duration is important for breast cancer survival”

Analyses were adjusted for age at enrollment, study arm, cancer site, marital status, household income, smoking, physical activity, and time-lag between baseline data collection and cancer diagnosis.

"Our results suggest that sleep duration is important for breast cancer survival, particularly in women who snore," said lead author Amanda Phipps, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash. and assistant member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. These findings could motivate and empower cancer patients to improve their sleep patterns.

 

Source: Medical News Today

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