Prevalence of sleep apnoea in diabetic patients

Background: Diabetes and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) syndrome share a high prevalence in industrialized nations. The presence of OSA seems to promote the development of diabetes mellitus (DM) and vice versa. Materials and Methods: In order to assess the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing, we studied 498 patients with DM type 2 and 58 patients with DM type 1 from 15 centres, using a screening device determining airflow and pulse oximetry. Age of the patients was 59.9 +/- 13.1 years, mean body mass index was 31.9 +/- 6.9 kg/m(2). Duration of diagnosis of DM was 9.3 +/- 7.3 years. Results: Among the patients, 37.4% had an apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) >= 15H suggestive of OSA. The prevalence of an AHI >= 15/h among the patients with DM type 1 was 10.3%. One hundred ninety-three (35.2%) patients suffered from neuropathy. We found a higher prevalence for neuropathy, nephropathy, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and heart failure in the group with an AHI >= 15/h. Conclusions: The prevalence of sleep disordered breathing is increased in patients with DM. Most of these patients had no typical clinical symptoms of OSA and would have been undiagnosed without diagnostic assessment of OSA.