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Significance of this study What is already know about the subject?
There is high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among individuals with type 1 and 2 diabetes, but screening for this disorder is infrequently performed in primary care settings.
What are the new findings?
Despite clinician awareness of the importance of OSA identification, screening for the condition is alsinfrequently performed in the endocrine practice setting.
The patient population with diabetes has low awareness of the importance of OSA identification but a high interest in the learning more about this subject. There prevalence of patients identified as being at high risk for OSA (HROSA) was similar in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
How might these results change the ficus of research or clinical practice?
This report highlights the need to implement collaborative pathways among various clinical specialties in order to best address OSA and improve the clinical care and outcomes of patients living with diabetes.
Introduction
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disorder characterized by snoring, periods of hypopnea or apnea, and sleep fragmentation that is often associated with daytime sleepiness. 1 OSA is prevalent in adults with diabetes, with highest rates observed among obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but is increasingly recognized as occurring among those with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) as well. 2 3
A strong incentive for screening patients with diabetes for OSA is related to the observed risk for morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease with each of these disorders. 4-6 Individuals with comorbid diabetes and OSA have higher blood pressure (BP), poor sleep quality, lower health-related quality of life, and lower adherence to diabetes self-management practices; all of which improve with adequate treatment. 7-9 While associations are observed between OSA severity and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), studies investigating changes in glycemic control with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy report mixed results. 10-13 Low levels of adherence to CPAP has been a limitation of many of the studies, with longer duration of nightly CPAP use being identified as a contributor to the ability to achieve the beneficial effects of CPAP treatment. 14 15
In the most recent standards of care, the American Diabetes Association recommends that clinicians maintain awareness of OSA as a comorbidity...