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Sleep duration and breast cancer prognosis: perspectives from the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

To examine whether baseline sleep duration or changes in sleep duration are associated with breast cancer prognosis among early-stage breast cancer survivors in the multi-center Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study.

Methods

Data were collected from 1995 to 2010. Analysis included 3047 women. Sleep duration was self-reported at baseline and follow-up intervals. Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate whether baseline sleep duration was associated with breast cancer recurrence, breast cancer-specific mortality, and all-cause mortality. Time-varying models investigated whether changes in sleep duration were associated with breast cancer prognosis.

Results

Compared to women who slept 7–8 h/night at baseline, sleeping ≥9 h/night was associated with a 48% increased risk of breast cancer recurrence (Hazard ratio [HR] 1.48, 95% Confidence interval [CI] 1.01, 2.00), a 52% increased risk of breast cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.09, 2.13), and a 43% greater risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.43, 95% CI 1.07, 1.92). Time-varying models showed analogous increased risk in those who inconsistently slept ≥9 h/night (all P < 0.05), but not in those who consistently slept ≥9 h/night.

Conclusions

Consistent long or short sleep, which may reflect inter-individual variability in the need for sleep, does not appear to influence prognosis among early-stage breast cancer survivors.

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Funding

Dr. Marinac was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number F31 CA183125. Research support was also provided by funding from the National Cancer Institute under award numbers U54 CA155435, and R01 CA166293. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 450 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA, USA

    Catherine R. Marinac

  2. Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Catherine R. Marinac

  3. Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Catherine R. Marinac, Sandahl H. Nelson, Loki Natarajan, John P. Pierce & Ruth E. Patterson

  4. Moores Cancer Center, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Sandahl H. Nelson, Shirley W. Flatt, Loki Natarajan, John P. Pierce & Ruth E. Patterson

  5. Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Sandahl H. Nelson

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  1. Catherine R. Marinac
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  2. Sandahl H. Nelson
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Correspondence to Catherine R. Marinac.

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The authors have no financial or conflicts of interest to disclose.

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All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of California, San Diego and 6 other clinical sites, and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Marinac, C.R., Nelson, S.H., Flatt, S.W. et al. Sleep duration and breast cancer prognosis: perspectives from the Women’s Healthy Eating and Living Study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 162, 581–589 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4140-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4140-9

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