[Click! Health] Sleep Apnea Patients Have 1.5 Times Higher Risk of Diabetes

A study has found that patients with sleep apnea, who temporarily stop breathing during sleep, have a higher risk of developing diabetes compared to healthy individuals.

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On the 4th, Professor Shin Cheol's research team at Korea University Ansan Hospital announced that through a large-scale cohort-based study, they demonstrated that patients with moderate or higher sleep apnea have about a 1.5 times higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to normal individuals. This research revealed that moderate or higher sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes in middle-aged and older adults.

Until now, the academic community has suggested that sleep apnea is closely related to the occurrence of type 2 diabetes. However, large-scale prospective cohort studies have been lacking. Accordingly, the research team initiated a study to determine the relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes according to the severity of sleep apnea in middle-aged and older adults.

In this study, 1,216 adult men and women (average age 59) participating in the Ansan cohort, one of the large-scale cohorts under the Korean Genome Epidemiology Study led by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s National Institute of Health and conducted by the Korea University Institute of Human Genomics (Director Shin Cheol), were followed for eight years. The research team classified them into ▲normal group ▲mild sleep apnea group ▲moderate or higher sleep apnea group, and analyzed the correlation between sleep apnea and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

As a result, the moderate or higher sleep apnea group showed a 1.5 times higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to the normal group. The research team explained that this suggests moderate or higher sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes development, and that treating sleep apnea in middle-aged and older adults is one of the fundamental methods for preventing type 2 diabetes.

Professor Shin stated, "This study supports that sleep apnea is a potential risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes and that treating sleep apnea can prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes," adding, "It also indicates the need for more in-depth research on the treatment effects of moderate or higher sleep apnea using positive airway pressure devices in the future."