The Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea with Urological Cancer Incidence and Mortality—A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Obstructive sleep apnea may correlate with an increased risk of developing kidney and bladder cancer, but not prostate cancer. We urge physicians to remain cognizant of this potential relationship, to facilitate management and enhance patient care. While obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and urological cancer are both strongly associated with hypoxia, controversy exists regarding their association with each other. This study aims to summarize and synthesize evidence to clarify the association between OSA and urological cancer incidence and mortality. According to a prespecified protocol, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Scopus were searched from inception to November 16, 2023, for observational and randomized studies reporting the association of OSA with urological cancer incidence or mortality. We pooled maximally covariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) using a random-effects inverse variance–weighted model. Two reviewers independently assessed the quality of evidence using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework. From 1814 records, we included 12 studies comprising 9 290 818 participants in total, of which nine studies were analyzed quantitatively. OSA patients had an increased risk of kidney (HR: 1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21–2.53) and bladder (HR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.05–2.96) cancer. However, OSA was not associated with prostate cancer incidence (HR: 1.29, 95% CI: 0.82–2.04). We systematically reviewed evidence surrounding OSA and testicular cancer incidence and urological cancer mortality. OSA may be associated with a higher risk of kidney and bladder cancer, but not prostate cancer. Future work may help clarify the possibility of a dose-response relationship between OSA and urological cancer, and the effect of OSA treatment on urological cancer incidence or progression. This research highlights a potential longitudinal association between OSA and kidney and bladder cancer, but not prostate cancer.