Treating Sleep Apnea Provides Health Benefits

Treating sleep apnea in patients who are pre-diabetic may help reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes according to a new study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. It may also help lower blood pressure.

According to a U.S. News & World Report article, many people who are pre-diabetic also suffer from undiagnosed sleep apnea. This sleep disorder temporarily closes the upper airway causing sufferers to momentarily stop breathing several times throughout the night. People with sleep apnea often startle awake each time their flow of oxygen is disrupted. This causes their blood pressure to spike and results in a fitful night’s sleep.

To see if treating sleep apnea could help pre-diabetic patients improve their blood sugar levels, researchers conducted a study with 39 volunteers who had both sleep apnea and pre-diabetes. All participants slept in a sleep laboratory for two weeks where researchers recorded and monitored their sleep. 

Twenty-six of the study participants were randomly selected to receive continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for eight hours each night over the two-week period. For the treatment, those participants wore a face mask connected to a device that blew a steady stream of air through their airways. The remaining 13 study participants were given a placebo pill to take before bed each night for two weeks.

Researchers found that the group that underwent CPAP treatment had improved blood sugar levels, lower blood pressure readings and lower levels of stress hormones than the group that took the placebo pills. 

Dr. Sushmita Pamidi, the study’s lead author, says, "Although eight hours of CPAP per night can be difficult to achieve in real-life, our results should provide a strong incentive for anyone with sleep apnea, especially pre-diabetic individuals, to improve adherence to their treatment for cardio-metabolic risk reduction.”

To learn more, you can read the entire article.