Sleep duration and risk of cancer in the Mexican American Mano-a-Mano Cohort
Introduction
Owing to the increased prevalence in modern society of sleeping difficulties and sleepiness and decreased sleeping duration per night, the relation of sleep and health has drawn increasing interest over the past decade.1 Both insufficient sleep and too much sleep have been associated with increased risk of various chronic health problems such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancers, and all-cause mortality.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 To date, various studies that have examined the association of sleep duration with cancer risk have found that both short and long sleep durations are associated with increased risks of various types of cancer,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 although the results are mixed and no consensus has been reached for any type of cancer. Furthermore, none of these studies have been conducted among Mexican Americans, one of the fastest-growing populations in United States.23
In fact, investigation of the relationship between sleep duration and cancer risk among Mexican Americans is of particular interest because sleep problems disproportionally affect racial and ethnic minorities among adults in the United States,24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 including non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, and others. Mexican Americans also have unique social-demographics that may further enhance the interest of studying the relationship between sleep duration and cancer risk. For example, in our previous analysis, we found that being born in the United States and high language acculturation were associated with short sleep duration among Mexican Americans. Both of these factors also are known risk factors for several types of cancer among Mexican Americans.31, 32 Three out of 4 Mexican Americans are either overweight or obese,33, 34 which is known to be associated with both sleep problems and various types of cancer. Thus, the associations between sleep duration and cancer risk observed in other populations may not be the same in Mexican Americans.
In the current study, we analyzed sleep duration in relation to cancer incidence among Mexican American study participants identified from the Mano-A-Mano Mexican American Cohort study. Our hypothesis was that abnormal sleep duration is associated with increased risk of overall cancer among Mexican Americans.
Section snippets
Study population
The current study included data from 10,802 Mexican American adults aged 20-60 years, identified from Mano-A-Mano, an Mexican American cohort study. Participants did not have self-reported cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular diseases at the time of enrollment. Data were obtained from individuals in a large population-based cohort of Mexican-origin households recruited in the Houston, TX, area. This cohort, for an ongoing prospective study of first- and second-generation Mexican-origin immigrant
Results
We identified a total of 429 cancer cases among 10,802 study subjects during follow-up. Table 1 summarizes basic social-demographic characteristics and lifestyle behaviors for both the cancer cases and noncancer controls. Study participants were divided into 4 groups according to their sleep duration: less than 6 hours, 6-8 hours, 8-9 hours, and at least 9 hours per night. The distribution of sleeping hours per night differed significantly between cancer cases and controls (P = .006).
Discussion
In the current prospective cohort study of 10,802 Mexican Americans, sleeping <6 hours per night was significantly associated with increased overall cancer risk and breast cancer risk. Our study is the first to examine the relationship between sleep duration and cancer risk in Mexican Americans.
Few prospective studies have examined the association between sleep duration and overall cancer risk.19, 20 Among female participants in the National Institute of Health (NIH) the American Association of
Disclosure
Authors have declared that there are no any competing financial interests in relation to the work described.
Acknowledgments
We thank the field staff for their ongoing work with participant recruitment and follow-up. Most importantly, we thank our study participants and their parents for their cooperation and participation, without which this research would not be possible. We acknowledge the Department of Scientific Publications for editing the manuscript.
Funding sources
The Mexican American Cohort receives funds collected pursuant to the Comprehensive Tobacco Settlement of 1998 and appropriated by the 76th legislature to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and from the Caroline W. Law Fund for Cancer Prevention and the Duncan Family Institute for Risk Assessment and Cancer Prevention.
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