Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) severity can independently predict glycaemic health in non-diabetic patients, suggests a recent study.
Researchers performed a cross-sectional analysis of 5294 patients in the European Sleep Apnoea Cohort study, which involved 24 sleep clinics across 15 European countries and Israel. They assessed the relationship of OSA severity, as measured using the apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI), with HbA1c levels in non-diabetic patients. All patients featured in the study had a HbA1c level below 6.5% (48 mmol/mol).
Analysis found that HbA1c levels correlated significantly with OSA severity. Adjusted mean HbA1c levels were lower in the lowest AHI quartile (5.24%), than in the second (5.37%), third (5.44%) or highest (5.50%) quartiles. Subjects in the second and third quartiles were 44% more likely to have HbA1c levels of 6% (42 mmol/mol) or greater, compared to those in the first quartile, while those in the highest AHI quartile had a more than two-fold increased risk of having a HbA1c greater than or equal to 6%.
The researchers noted that their results show that obstructive sleep apnoea severity and nocturnal hypoxemia ‘independently predict poor glycaemic health in subjects without an antecedent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus’ but advise that further studies are required.
