Untreated obstructive sleep apnea raises risk for poor prognosis in melanoma
Source: Healio, April 2024
Key takeaways:
- The risk for death, melanoma recurrence or metastasis was high among patients with this cancer and untreated obstructive sleep apnea vs. no sleep apnea.
- Adherence to CPAP was found to normalize this risk.
Among patients with melanoma, untreated moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea increased the risk for poor long-term prognosis of skincancer, according to results published in CHEST.
“The presence of OSA emerges as a new risk factor for a poor long-term prognosis of cutaneous melanoma,” Jose Daniel Gómez-Olivas, MD, of the respiratory department at the Hospital Universitario y Politecnico La Fe, and colleagues wrote. “However, if underlying OSA is treated with CPAP and patients adhere to CPAP, the risk imposed by OSA on cutaneous melanoma outcomes is normalized.”