New research suggests that obstructive sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The International Diabetes Federation believes that research confirms that patients with one condition should be screened for the other.
A common denominator that links both sleep apnea and diabetes together is obesity.
Sleep apnea happens when a sleeper’s airway becomes partially or completely obstructed during sleep, resulting in breathing that intermittently stops and starts. Approximately 13 percent of men and 6 percent of women have moderate to severe undiagnosed sleep apnea, researchers believe.
“Over the last two decades, evidence has been accruing that sleep apnea may be associated with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and type 2 diabetes,” study leader Mako Nagayoshi of Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Science in Japan said.
Past studies linking sleep apnea to diabetes were lacking significance due to the small number of participants and other indicators, Nagayoshi attested.
For the latest study, researchers studied data from 1,453 participants with a mean age of 63. All participants underwent in-home sleep studies and were diabetes free when the study commenced.
Participants were grouped together depending upon whether they were normal sleepers or experienced mild, moderate or severe sleep apnea.
After roughly 13 years, 285 people were observed developing type 2 diabetes. It was noted that people with severe obstructive sleep apnea were about 70 percent more inclined to develop diabetes than those determined to be normal sleepers.
A common denominator that links both sleep apnea and diabetes together is obesity said Paul E. Peppard, a sleep disorder researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.
“These findings underscore the need to prevent sleep apnea and screen for sleep apnea in patients particularly at risk for developing diabetes – e.g., overweight and physically inactive people,” Peppard maintained. He insists that behaviors such as healthy weight maintenance and increased exercise would reduce the risk of developing sleep apnea and diabetes.
