Sex Differences in the Prevalence and Modulators of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Outpatients with Type 2 Diabetes

In patients with type 2 diabetes, sleep-disordered breathing is a widespread cause of deteriorated quality of life. However, robust prevalence estimates for sleep-disordered breathing in patients with type 2 diabetes are limited due to scarce data. We investigated sex differences in sleep-disordered breathing prevalence and its modulators in the DIACORE SDB substudy, a sample of outpatient type 2 diabetes. 721 participants were tested for sleep-disordered breathing using a two-channel sleep apnoea monitoring device. Patients were stratified according to the severity of sleep-disordered breathing, defined as an apnoea-hypopnoea index = 15 to 29, and >= 30 events per hour as no/mild, moderate, and severe sleep-disordered breathing, respectively. In the 679 analysed patients (39% women, age 66 +/- 9 years, body mass index 31.0 +/- 5.4 kg/m(2)), the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing was 34%. The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing was higher in men than in women (41% versus 22%, p = 70, respectively; age trend p = 0.064 in women and p = 0.15 in men). In linear regression analysis, age, BMI, and waist-hip ratio were associated with apnoea-hypopnoea index. Modulators for higher apnoea-hypopnoea index seem to be similar in men and women