Daytime sleepiness linked to diabetes

[Naveed Yaseen]

Daytime sleepiness caused by a night-time breathing disorder known as sleep apnoea is linked to diabetes.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a disorder in, which the tissues at the back of the throat temporarily collapse during sleep, causing repeated stops and starts in breathing during the night. This leads to poor-quality sleep and, often, daytime drowsiness, BBC radio reported.

Past studies have proved the link between OSA, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance but the independent association between OSA and diabetes mellitus was unclear and whether all OSA patients are at risk. Researchers studied 2,149 diabetics in Canada to determine the association between OSA and diabetes mellitus in patients referred for sleep diagnostic testing.

It was found that the risk of diabetes might be two to three times higher among people with severe sleep apnoea who also suffer daytime sleepiness. Sleep evaluations showed that 25 per cent had severe OSA that is 30 or more bouts of disturbed breathing per night. Another 21 per cent, without OSA, suffered 5 or fewer of these bouts nightly. The remaining participants had between 6 and 29 night-time bouts of disturbed breathing, and were classified as having mild to moderate OSA.

About 8 percent of the participants also reported having diabetes. And those with severe OSA were much more likely to have diabetes even after adjusting for other OSA risk factors such as age, body weight, gender, neck circumference, and smoking status.

The researchers concluded that severe obstructive sleep apnoea is associated with diabetes mellitus in patients who report excessive sleepiness and further studies may wish to investigate the impact of OSA treatment on diabetes in this group of patients.

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