Glucose Variations and Activity Are Strongly Coupled in Sleep and Wake in Young Adults With Type 1 Diabetes

Glucose variations are common throughout sleep and wakefulness in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The objective of this investigation was to characterize the time-varying coupling between glucose and unstructured physical activity over a 60-hr period in young adults with T1DM. The hypothesis was that coupling would differ during sleep versus wakefulness and would exhibit circadian variations.

Young adults with T1DM treated with an insulin pump participated in the study. Glucose variations were monitored with a continuous glucose monitoring system, and activity was assessed using an activity-monitoring band worn on the nondominant wrist. Simultaneous glucose and physical activity data across a continuous 60-hr period were used for analysis. Wavelet coherence analysis was employed to quantify the coupling between physical activity and glucose. Cosinor analysis was used to assess whether glucose/activity coherence exhibited significant circadian variations.

Participants comprised 23 adults, aged 18-30 years, with T1DM. Coherence analysis demonstrated substantial coupling between physical activity and glucose variations during both wakefulness and sleep. For rapid (10-30 min) fluctuations, mean coherence was higher during sleep than wakefulness ( F = 10.86, p = .003). Rapid glucose variations consistently led to changes in activity ( p = .001) during sleep but not during wake. Cosinor analysis revealed significant circadian modulation of glucose/activity coupling, especially for fluctuation periods 2-4 hr.

Unstructured physical activity and glucose variations demonstrated strong time- and frequency-dependent coupling over a 60-hr period in young adults with T1DM, with sleep/wake differences and circadian modulation evident in this relationship.