2023-09-29 20:15:08
Scientists have investigated whether there is a relationship between the development of endometrial cancer and lack of sleep or working night shifts.
The Infections and Cancer research team at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Hospitalet de Llobregat and the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) have led a pioneering analysis with individual data to look for whether there is any relationship between sleep and endometrial cancer.
The study indicates that sleep deprivation or working at night do not seem to be risk factors for this type of cancer in postmenopausal women.
The study authors analyzed data from 7,202 women with endometrial cancer and 22,027 healthy women from 11 Endometrial Cancer Epidemiology Consortium (E2C2) studies.
“We have not found any significant relationship between the development of endometrial cancer and hours of sleep or working night shifts,” emphasizes Jon Frias, researcher at IDIBELL and ICO and first signatory of the study.
Jon Frias, first author of the study. (Photo: IDIBELL)
The studies carried out to date on the relationship between cancer and hours of sleep show discordant results that vary depending on the design or method of analysis. Lack of light exposure due to night work or lack of sleep affects circadian rhythms and decreases levels of melatonin, a hormone strongly associated with anti-cancer effects. “That is why many studies have wanted to investigate the relationship between lack of sleep and cancer,” says Dr. Laura Costas, principal investigator at IDIBELL and ICO and leader of the project. “Our study shows that, at least in the case of endometrial cancer, there does not seem to be a relationship.”
The study is titled “Night shift work, sleep duration and endometrial cancer risk: A pooled analysis from the Epidemiology of Endometrial Cancer Consortium (E2C2)”. And it has been published in the academic journal Sleep Medicine Reviews. (Source: IDIBELL)
#sleep #working #night #endometrial #cancer