Takeaway
- Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are at increased risk of developing obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) vs those without T2DM.
- In addition to known predictors of OSA, insulin treatment and diabetes-related foot disease were identified as risk factors in patients with T2DM.
Why this matters
- Physicians should assess OSA in patients with T2DM, mainly in men, and patients with high BMI, hypertension, depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes-related foot disease and those with prescribed insulin.
Study design
- An age-, sex- and BMI-matched controlled retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from the Health Improvement Network to compare the incidence of OSA in patients with T2DM and those without diabetes.
- Funding: None disclosed.
Key results
- OSA developed in 3110 patients (0.88%) with diabetes and in 5968 control patients (0.46%).
- Adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) of OSA in patients with T2DM vs those without was 1.48 (95% CI, 1.42-1.55; P<.001).
- Factors significantly predictive of incident OSA in patients with T2DM were:
- male sex (aIRR, 2.27; 95% CI, 2.09-2.46),
- being overweight (aIRR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.54-2.64) or obese (aIRR, 8.29; 95% CI, 6.42-10.69),
- diabetes-related foot disease (aIRR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.06-1.42),
- insulin prescription (aIRR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.42-1.75),
- heart failure (aIRR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.18-1.70),
- ischaemic heart disease (aIRR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.11-1.34),
- atrial fibrillation (aIRR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.04-1.46),
- hypertension (aIRR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.23-1.43) and
- depression (aIRR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.61-1.91).
Limitations
- Risk of potential bias.
References
References