Type 2 Diabetes And REM Related OSA

Medical study published recently by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine in the June issue links obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which occurs during rapid eye movement sleep (REM), to type 2 diabetes. Professor Kamran Mahmood, MD, one of the main researchers from the University of Illinois, Chicago, found the strong connection between REM-related OSA and type 2 Diabetes to be very surprising.

Kamran Mahmood said the study conducted on 1,008 consecutive patients who were tested for OSA by polysomnography at the University of Illinois at Chicago, revealed that patients with REM-related OSA were 2 times more likely to have or to develop type 2 diabetes. Among those taken part in the study were African American(66.9%), Caucasian(16.9%), Hispanic(14.9%) and Asian(1.3%). During the initial OSA* test, about 745 (74%) individuals were diagnosed with OSA and the remaining 263 (26%) individuals who were free from OSA served as the control group.

Though the occurrence of type 2 Diabetes was found to be around 30% in patients with REM-related OSA and only approximately 18% in patients without REM-related OSA, however the study can not draw any authoritative conclusions as differences in the body mass index, age and gender of the patients may made the association between REM-related OSA and type 2 Diabetes somehow non-significant.

Mahmood said that that REM-related OSA functions as a marker for early OSA and this is especially true in women and patients age below 55 years. He also explained that OSA is much worse during REM sleep due to the neurologically provoked impairment of the skeletal muscles which control the upper airway ventilation. Because of these the researchers have reasons to believe there is a strong connection between REM-related OSA and the occurrence of type 2 Diabetes.

The study published by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine concluded that there is a strong connection between type 2 Diabetes and REM-related obstructive sleep apnea. However, further study is required in order to ascertain more consistent data regarding the connections between these two health conditions.

Note : OSA or obstructive sleep apnea was defined as an AHI (Apnea-Hypopnea Index) of 5 or more breathing pauses per 1 hour.