Influence of Sleep Quality, Coffee Consumption, and Perceived Stress on the Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in Healthy Korean Adults

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the influence of lifestyle-related factors, such as sleep quality, eating habits, and perceived stress, on the incidence of thyroid cancer in healthy adults. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional case-control study comparing lifestyle-related factors in thyroid cancer and healthy groups. Outpatients with thyroid cancer were recruited from 2012 to 2013, 3~6 months after thyroidectomy at a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea (n=468). For the control group, 935 healthy adults were recruited by propensity score matching on demographic characteristics in a 1:2 ratio from hospital health checkup data. The effect of sleep quality, eating habits, and perceived stress on the incidence of thyroid cancer was determined through multiple logistic regression analysis and backward stepwise variable selection. Results: Sleep disturbance and mild/moderate daytime dysfunction were found to have a 1.22 and 1.66/1.77-fold influence, respectively, in patients with thyroid cancer than in healthy controls ( p < .05). Coffee consumers who drink 3~6 times/day showed reduced cancer incidence than those who drink very little (odds ratio=0.53, 95% confidence interval=0.32~0.87). Perceived stress was a significant risk factor in univariate ( p =.004), but not in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: These findings highlight the need for evaluating sleep quality, especially in high-risk adults and patients with thyroid cancer. Preventive measures should be adopted to lower stress levels and improve sleep quality.