58% of Diabetics Have Obstructive Sleep Apnea

October 2, 2008

I came across this blog that mentioned that the International Diabetes Federation did a study which showed that 58% of type 2 diabetics have obstructive sleep apnea. Not too surprising, since we’ve known for years that the stress response created by sleep-breathing problems can cause glucose intolerance. This number may be much higher if you take into consideration all diabetics that obstruct 5 to 25 times every hour who wake up after 1-9 seconds each. Since they didn’t reach to 10 second threshold to count as an apnea, their apnea score (AHI) is officially 0. Rest assured, there will be many more of these “links” between obstructive sleep apnea an a myriad of other conditions such as hypertension (many studies already published), stroke (many studies), depression (many published), anxiety (many published), heart disease (many published), headaches (many published), obesity (many published), ADHD (too many to mention), and many other various conditions such as chronic fatigue, IBS, migraines, TMJ, chronic sinusitis, etc. So many associations between all these conditions and obstructive sleep apnea…hmmmmmm….is there a common link?

Knowing about the results of this study, do you think it will sway doctors to at least start screening for obstructive sleep apnea in their diabetic patients?
photo credit: Yogma