Sleepless men more likely to suffer with prostate cancer

The risk rises with the severity of sleep problems, researchers found, increasing from 1.6 to 2.1 times the usual level.

Why poor sleep can affect men’s chances of developing the disease is unexplained. But a previous link has been seen between insomnia and breast cancer in women.

“Sleep problems are very common in modern society and can have adverse health consequences,” said study leader Dr Lara Sigurdardottir.

“Women with sleep disruption have consistently been reported to be at an increased risk for breast cancer, but less is known about the potential role of sleep problems in prostate cancer.”

Each year around 40,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer and 10,000 die from the disease.

The researchers studied more than 2,000 men aged 67 to 96 who were questioned about their sleeping habits. Between 8.7 per cent had difficulty sleeping and 5.7 per cent reported severe and very severe sleep problems. None had prostate cancer at the start of the study, which continued for five years.

During this time, 6.4 per cent of the men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Those suffering from insomnia were significantly more likely to develop prostatecancer.

The association was stronger for advanced stage disease. For men with “very severe” sleep problems, the risk was more than tripled.

Dr Sigurdardottir, of the University of Iceland, added: “Prostate cancer is one of the leading public health concerns for men, and sleep problems are quite common. If our results are confirmed ... sleep may become a potential target for intervention to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.”