Global Assessment of the Impact of Type 2 Diabetes on Sleep through Specific Questionnaires. A Case-Control Study

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is an independent risk factor for sleep breathing disorders. However, it is unknown whether T2D affects daily somnolence and quality of sleep independently of the impairment of polysomnographic parameters.

A case-control study including 413 patients with T2D and 413 non-diabetic subjects, matched by age, gender, BMI, and waist and neck circumferences. A polysomnography was performed and daytime sleepiness was evaluated using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). In addition, 135 subjects with T2D and 45 controls matched by the same previous parameters were also evaluated through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to calculate sleep quality.

Daytime sleepiness was higher in T2D than in control subjects (p = 0.003), with 23.9% of subjects presenting an excessive daytime sleepiness (ESS>10). Patients with fasting plasma glucose (FPG ≥13.1 mmol/l) were identified as the group with a higher risk associated with an ESS>10 (OR 3.9, 95% CI 1.8-7.9, p = 0.0003). A stepwise regression analyses showed that the presence of T2D, baseline glucose levels and gender but not polysomnographic parameters (i.e apnea-hyoapnea index or sleeping time spent with oxigen saturation lower than 90%) independently predicted the ESS score. In addition, subjects with T2D showed higher sleep disturbances [PSQI: 7.0 (1.0-18.0) vs. 4 (0.0-12.0), p<0.001].

The presence of T2D and high levels of FPG are independent risk factors for daytime sleepiness and adversely affect sleep quality. Prospective studies addressed to demonstrate whether glycemia optimization could improve the sleep quality in T2D patients seem warranted.