Association between Outdoor Light at Night and Prostate Cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study

Jul 18, 2023Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology

Outdoor Light at Night and Its Link to Prostate Cancer in Male Health Professionals

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Abstract

A positive association was observed between baseline outdoor light at night and total prostate cancer risk, with a hazard ratio of 1.06 among non-movers.

No significant link was found between cumulative outdoor light at night and overall or fatal prostate cancer risk.
Among participants who did not move, baseline outdoor light at night was associated with a higher risk of total prostate cancer.
In highly screened individuals, the risk increase associated with baseline outdoor light at night was more pronounced, with a hazard ratio of 1.11.
Further research is needed with varied measures of outdoor light at night and across more diverse populations.

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BACKGROUND: Circadian disruption is a potential risk factor for advanced prostate cancer, and light at night (LAN) exposure may disrupt circadian rhythms. We evaluated whether outdoor LAN increases the risk of prostate cancer.

METHODS: We prospectively followed 49,148 participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study from 1986 through 2016. We estimated baseline and cumulative time-varying outdoor LAN with ∼1 km2 resolution using data from the US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System, which was assigned to participants' geocoded addresses. Participants reside in all 50 U.S. states and reported a work or home address. We used multivariable Cox models to estimate HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between outdoor LAN and risk of overall (7,175 cases) and fatal (915 cases) prostate cancer adjusting for individual and contextual factors.

RESULTS: There was no association between the interquartile range increase in cumulative LAN and total (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.98-1.06) or fatal (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.96-1.15) prostate cancer in adjusted models. However, there was a positive association between baseline LAN and total prostate cancer among non-movers (HR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.00-1.14) including among highly screened participants (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.23).

CONCLUSIONS: There was a suggestive positive association between baseline outdoor LAN and total prostate cancer. Additional studies with different measures of outdoor LAN and in more diverse populations are necessary.

IMPACT: To our knowledge, this is the first longitudinal cohort study exploring the relationship between outdoor LAN and prostate cancer.

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Association between Outdoor Light at Night and Prostate Cancer in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study

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