Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42115995›Full record

ArticleBMC pulmonary medicine2026

Is obstructive sleep apnea a driver of cancer and chronic disease risk? A real-world analysis of over 3 million patients.

Simon Bigus, Nils Lucca Kern, Tim Lukas Elter, Max Heiland, Robert Preissner, Saskia Preissner

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Article in BMC pulmonary medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Simon BigusDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Germany. simon.bigus@charite.de.
Nils Lucca KernDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Germany.
Tim Lukas ElterDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Germany.
Max HeilandDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Germany.
Robert PreissnerDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Germany.
Saskia PreissnerDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin, 13353, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep-related breathing disorder linked to substantial cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic morbidity. Recent observations have raised the question that OSA may also contribute to cancer development. This study aimed to evaluate the association between OSA and the 5-year incidence of cancer, cardiometabolic, pulmonary and metabolic disorders in a large real-world hospitalized population.

methodsA retrospective analysis of the TriNetX research database was conducted. Two cohorts of 1,524,190 adults with and without OSA, matched for age and sex, were analyzed for incident cancer, chronic ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, overweight/obesity, and diabetes mellitus. Risk estimates, risk differences, risk ratios (RR), and odds ratios were calculated; cancer risk was additionally analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. Significance was indicated by p < 0.05.

resultsOSA was associated with significantly higher 5-year incidences of all predefined outcomes, including cancer (RR 1.40), chronic ischemic heart disease (RR 1.36), COPD (RR 1.64), asthma (RR 1.96), diabetes mellitus (RR 1.51), and overweight/obesity (RR 2.70) (p < 0.001).

conclusionsIn this large real-world analysis, OSA was associated with increased 5-year risks of incident cancer and major cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic diseases. The magnitude of cancer risk was comparable to that of non-malignant chronic conditions, supporting the concept of OSA as a systemic disorder characterized by multisystem morbidity.

Indexed as

Diabetes MellitusNeoplasmsPulmonary Disease, Chronic ObstructiveSleep Apnea, ObstructiveAdultAgedAsthmaChronic DiseaseFemaleHumansIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedMyocardial IschemiaObesityOverweightAsthmaCancer riskCardiometabolic diseaseChronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseDiabetes mellitusObstructive Sleep ApneaReal-world dataTriNetX

Identifiers

PMID42115995
PMCPMC13173817

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.