Are sleep disorders associated with the risk of gastrointestinal cancer?—A case–control study

PURPOSE: Sleep disorders are among the most common health problems worldwide and are linked to a variety of physical and mental health problems. Recently, there has been increasing evidence of an association between sleep disorders and cancer risk. We aimed to investigate this association specifically for cancers of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. METHODS: Using the DA database (IQVIA), adult patients diagnosed with GI cancer between January 2010 and December 2022 were retrospectively compared to a 1:1 propensity score-matched cohort of patients without cancer. The outcome of the study was the association between sleep disorders and subsequent diagnosis of GI cancer. To determine whether sleep disorders were more common in patients with GI cancer than in patients without GI cancer, logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). RESULTS: After matching, 37,161 cases with GI cancer and 37,161 controls without cancer were available for analysis. No association with cancer was found for sleep disorders in the overall history before the index date (OR 1.04; 95% CI 0.96–1.12), but considering sleep disorders documented within 1 year before the index date showed a positive association with GI cancer overall (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.08–1.34). Stratified analyses by cancer site revealed higher odds of sleep disorders prior to diagnosis of gastric, pancreatic, and colorectal cancer. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that sleep disorders might be indicative of short-term health outcomes, including GI cancer, suggesting a role for sleep disorder screening in the context of cancer prevention efforts.