睡眠呼吸暫停或導致患癌風險增加
Women with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are more likely to develop cancer than men with the condition, according to a report published this week in the European Respiratory Journal.
據本週發表於《歐洲呼吸雜誌》上的報告所示，患阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停的女性比患該病症的男性更易患癌症。
OSA is the most common type of sleep apnea, and it causes a person's breathing to stop and start throughout the night. People with sleep apnea often wake up abruptly, choking or gasping for air, and often have sore throats or dry mouths. OSA can also cause blood oxygen saturation levels to dip, and it's been linked to a number of health problems-including morning headaches, high blood pressure, loud snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, difficulty concentrating, depression, irritability, and nighttime sweating.
阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停是最常見的一種睡眠呼吸暫停，會導致患者在夜間睡覺時反覆地呼吸暫停。睡眠呼吸暫停患者通常會驟然醒來、感到窒息或大口喘氣，通常還伴有喉嚨痛或口乾的症狀。阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停會導致血氧飽和度下降，同時與一系列健康問題相關--包括清晨頭痛、高血壓、大聲打呼嚕、白天過度嗜睡、難以集中注意力、抑鬱、易怒和夜間出汗。
Now, researchers also believe there is a link between OSA and the development of cancer-especially in women. In the new study, an international team of researchers analyzed data on nearly 20,000 Europeans who'd been diagnosed with sleep apnea. About 5,800 of the patients studied were women, and about 14,000 were men.
現在，研究員認爲阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停與患癌之間存在聯繫--對女性而言更是如此。在這項新研究中，一個國際研究小組分析了歐洲近2萬名睡眠呼吸暫停患者的數據。研究中，近5800位患者是女性，約14000位患者是男性。
During the study period, 2.8% of women-but only 1.7% of men-developed a serious cancer. Breast cancer was the most common cancer among these women.
研究期間，2.8%的女性--但只有1.7%的男性--患了癌症。在這些患癌女性中，乳腺癌最爲常見。
Researchers took into consideration factors that can contribute to the development of cancer, including alcohol consumption, BMI, age, and smoking status. But even after controlling for those factors, they found that cancer was still more prevalent among female OSA patients than male OSA patients.
研究員考慮了可能導致患癌的因素，包括飲酒、身體質量指數、年齡和抽菸情況。但即使控制了這些因素後，他們發現，阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停的女患者患癌症的情況比該病症男患者患癌症的情況更普遍。
study lead Athanasia Pataka, MD, said in a statement that her team found OSA might be an "indicator" of a future cancer diagnosis for women. However, more research is needed to confirm her team's findings, Dr. Pataka explained.
研究首席作者阿薩納西亞·帕塔卡（Athanasia Pataka）醫學博士在一份聲明中說道，她的團隊發現：阻塞性睡眠呼吸暫停可能是女性未來患癌的"跡象"。然而，我們還需要進行更多的研究來確認團隊的發現成果，帕塔卡博士解釋道。
"Our study did not explicitly explore the causes of different cancers, but cancer may differ between men and women because of factors such as how hormones affect tumor growth; how the different types of cancer that were more prevalent in men and women are affected by low blood oxygen levels; or how gender specific exposure to cigarette smoking may play a role," Dr. Pataka said.
"我們的研究沒有明確探索不同癌症的成因，但女性和男性的患癌情況可能會有所不同，因爲激素影響腫瘤生長的方式、低血氧水平對男性比女性更易患哪種癌症的影響、不同性別抽菸所帶來的影響等因素都可能起到作用，"帕塔卡博士說道。
