ESPE Abstracts

Background: Poor sleep quality has been linked to insulin resistance and impaired glucose metabolism, but little is known about sleep and type 1 diabetes (T1D). People with T1D experience higher rates of sleep disturbances than people without diabetes, and these disturbances have negative implications on glycemic control, as well as psychosocial and cognitive outcomes.

Objective: To study the prevalence of sleep disorders and sleep characteristics in children and adolescents with T1D and the possible association between sleep disturbances and HbA1c.

Subjects and Methods: A case control questionnaire study that was conducted on 189 cases and 106 age and sex matched controls. The sleep was evaluated by using Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children (SDSC) in children 6–12 years old and Adolescent Sleep-Wake Scale (ASWS), total nocturnal sleep duration, sleep disordered breathing, daytime sleepiness scores in adolescents 12–18 years old.

Results: The study showed higher prevalence of sleep disorders in T1D group in comparison to controls (57.1% vs 11.3%; P <0.001). T1D group showed a statistically higher prevalence of daytime sleepiness versus control group (18.5 % vs. 8%, P=0.04). Multivariate analysis showed that younger age and higher HbA1c are significant independent predictors of sleep disorders in T1D cohort (Or= 3.5 (1.01-12.4); P=0.048, 1.7 (1.4-2.1); P <0.001, respectively). Median HbA1c % was higher in T1D with sleep disorders as compared to T1D subjects without sleep disorders (10.2% (8.9% – 11.5%) vs. 7.6% (6.9% – 9.2%), P= 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between duration of sleep and HbA1c (r= -0.54; P <0.001). 3.7% of T1D cohort with good glycemic control (HbA1c ≤7%) had sleep disturbance, while 96.3% of T1D cohort with average glycemic control (HbA1c >7%) had sleep disturbance; (p value < 0.001).

Conclusion: Young people living with T1D have a higher prevalence of sleep disorders as compared with healthy controls. Glycemic control is significantly affected by the presence of sleep disorders and vice versa.