Endocrine Abstracts

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is commonly considered a cardinal sign of sleep apnea; however, the mechanism underlying the association is unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the daytime sleepiness in patients with diabetes.

Methods: Participants were 30 adults with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) followed in the C department of the National Institute of Nutrition in Tunis. Subjective sleepiness was assessed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Results: The mean age of our patients was 60±11 years, with a sex ratio M/F=0.48. The average duration of diabetes was 17±4 years. Obesity was present in 83.4% of patients. The mean glycated hemoglobin was 10.8% and the frequency of hypertension was 73%. This study showed that most patients (43.2%) presented a mild daytime sleepiness. People who scored highly on the ESS (4.9%) were more likely to have poor glycemic and blood pressure control and a higher body mass index than those with low scores (34.1 vs 31.8 kg/m²).

Conclusions: Sleep abnormalities and daytime sleepiness are frequent in T2DM and it is associated with decreased diabetes self-management. We suggest that diabetic patient should be more thoroughly investigated for symptoms of daytime sleepiness.