The association between sleep quantity, insomnia and lung cancer risk – A systematic review and meta-analysis

The effect of various sleep traits on the risk of lung cancer differs among pre-existing studies. This study aims to systematically review and synthesise the association between sleep duration and insomnia with the incidence of lung cancer.

PubMed, Embase and The Cochrane Library were searched from inception to 23 April 2023 for observational studies examining the effect of sleep quantity or insomnia on lung cancer incidence. We pooled maximally-adjusted hazard ratios and odds ratios separately using random effects inverse variance weighted models. The risk of bias of observational studies was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale.

We included 11 observational studies with a pooled cohort of 5,049,141 patients. The mean age of the patients was 49.5 ± 17.7 years, and 51.4% were males. The risk of bias ranged from low-moderate. Individuals who slept for a shorter or longer duration than the reference range of sleep per night showed an increased risk of lung cancer by 11% (HR:1.11; 95%CI:1.00–1.23) and 16% (HR:1.16; 95%CI:1.06–1.27) respectively. Furthermore, individuals with insomnia symptoms had a 9% greater risk of lung cancer than those without symptoms (HR:1.09; 95%CI:1.05–1.13).

This study suggests that insufficient sleep, excessive sleep and insomnia may be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. Physicians should be mindful of this association and encourage healthy sleep practises among patients. Given the observed heterogeneity among some pre-existing studies, future research with longer periods of follow-up, greater control for covariates and objective testing of sleep parameters may add value to this topic.