Characterization of Sleep Breathing Pattern in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes : Sweet Sleep Study

Although sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) is highly prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), it is unknown whether or not subjects with and without T2D share the same sleep breathing pattern. A cross-sectional study in patients with SAHS according to the presence (n = 132) or not (n = 264) of T2D. Both groups were matched by age, gender, BMI, and waist and neck circumferences. A subgroup of 125 subjects was also matched by AHI. The exclusion criteria included chronic respiratory disease, alcohol abuse, use of sedatives, and heart failure. A higher apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was observed in T2D patients [32.2 (10.2-114.0) vs. 25.6 (10.2-123.4) events/hours; p = 0.002). When sleep events were evaluated separately, patients with T2D showed a significant increase in apnea events [8.4 (0.1-87.7) vs. 6.3 (0.0-105.6) e/h; p = 0.044), as well as a two-fold increase in the percentage of time spent with oxygen saturation <90% [15.7 (0.0-97.0) vs. 7.9 (0.0-95.6) %;