Association between sleep disorder and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

We investigated the association between sleep symptoms, which cause sleep disorder, and quality of life (QoL) among people with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

In this cross-sectional study of 342 people with T2D, the Japan National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) database 2016 were used. We treated the respondents who reported experiencing any of the sleep symptoms as having sleep disorders. To examine health-related QoL (HRQoL), we used the physical component summary (PCS) and the mental component summary (MCS) from the 36-Item short-form and the EuroQol 5 Dimension (EQ-5D) survey instruments. Overall activity impairment was used for assessment of the effect on the individual's ability to perform regular daily activities. We used t-test and one-way ANOVA test for comparison QoL scores between the participants with and without sleep disorders.

66.4% of the participants with T2D reported having a sleep disorder. The PCS, MCS, EQ-5D, and overall activity impairment of people with sleep disorder was significantly poorer than those of the people without. Specific sleep symptoms, such as waking up to go to the bathroom, daytime sleepiness, and waking up too early (before the alarm clock), had high prevalence (35.4, 27.8 and 20.2%). The participants who experienced waking up to go to the bathroom or daytime sleepiness demonstrated significantly poorer QoL on all scores related to QoL, but those who experienced waking up too early only demonstrated significantly poorer QoL on the EQ-5D.

Two-thirds of people with T2D in this study suffer from sleep disorders. The people who experience waking up to go to the bathroom or daytime sleepiness had significantly poorer QoL than those without these symptoms. Thus, sleep disorders, especially the symptoms of waking up to go to the bathroom or daytime sleepiness, might be the treatment targets for QOL of people with T2DM.