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

Abstract

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.