People with sleep apnea are 1.47 times more likely to develop malignant brain tumors than those who do not have the sleep disorder, said a doctor, citing a study that he led.
Huang Chun-hao (黃俊豪), director of the Sleep Center at the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Chiayi County, said that starting in 2000 his study examined 112,555 adults diagnosed with sleep apnea and 112,555 adults who did not have the disorder.
Sleep apnea is a disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing during sleep. Each pause in breathing is called an apnea.
The study, which followed several of the participants for up to 10 years, found that the incidence of malignant brain tumors among people with sleep apnea is 2.96 in every 10,000 per year, Huang said.
Among people without the sleep disorder, the ratio is 1.66 per 10,000 per year, he said at a two-day academic conference which started on Saturday held by the Taiwan Society of Sleep Medicine.
After making adjustments for factors such as age, gender, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, cerebral vascular disease and Parkinson’s disease, Huang found that the ratio of adults with sleep apnea who developed malignant brain tumors was 1.47 times that in the control group.
Medical literature has suggested that women can reduce the risk of breast cancer by getting adequate sleep, Huang said.
People who do not get enough sleep also have a higher chance of developing colon adenomas, he said.
Those who do not sleep well and have an insufficient supply of oxygen to the body are at increased risk for all kinds of cancer, he added.
He said that while sleep apnea and snoring may be seen as minor problems, attention should be given to dealing with these conditions, which in turn will help prevent high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia and high blood sugar, and reduce the risk of cancer.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to