According to a study recently published in Diabetes Care, patients with T2DM with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) are at higher risk for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD), Microvascular complications and mortality.

      The age-, sex-, BMI-, and diabetes duration–matched cohort study was done by Nicola J. Adderley, from the University of Birmingham, U.K and colleagues, who used U.K Primary care database and identified people with Type 2DM and are of above 16 years of age. Their study included 3667 individuals diagnosed with OSA and a control group of 10450 (without OSA). For patients with diabetes who develop OSA versus those who do not, the adjusted hazard ratios for the outcomes were as follows: composite CVD 1.54 (95% CI 1.32, 1.79), IHD 1.55 (1.26, 1.90), HF 1.67 (1.35, 2.06), stroke/TIA 1.57 (1.27, 1.94), PVD 1.10 (0.91, 1.32), AF 1.53 (1.28, 1.83), PN 1.32 (1.14, 1.51), DFD 1.42 (1.16, 1.74), referable retinopathy 0.99 (0.82, 1.21), CKD (stage 3–5) 1.18 (1.02, 1.36), albuminuria 1.11 (1.01, 1.22), and all-cause mortality 1.24 (1.10, 1.40). The results were similar in prevalent OSA cohort, but some associations were not observed.

      The study concluded that patients with T2DM who develop OSA are at increased risk of CVD, atrial fibrillation (AF), peripheral neuropathy (PN), diabetes-related foot disease (DFD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and all-cause mortality compared with patients without diagnosed OSA.