title: Impaired glucose tolerance in sleep disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent epidemiological and experimental data suggest a negative influence of shortened or disturbed night sleep on glucose tolerance. Due to the high prevalence of sleep disorders this might be a major health issue. However, no comparative studies of carbohydrate metabolism have been conducted in clinical sleep disorders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and assessed additional parameters of carbohydrate metabolism in patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS, N = 25), restless legs syndrome (RLS, N = 18) or primary insomnia (N = 21), and in healthy controls (N = 33). Compared to controls, increased rates of impaired glucose tolerance were found in OSAS (OR: 4.9) and RLS (OR: 4.7) patients, but not in primary insomnia patients (OR: 1.6). In addition, HbA1c values were significantly increased in the same two patient groups. Significant positive correlations were found between 2-h plasma glucose values measured during the OGTT and the apnea-arousal-index in OSAS (r = 0.56; p<0.05) and the periodic leg movement-arousal-index in RLS (r = 0.56, p<0.05), respectively. Sleep duration and other quantitative aspects of sleep were similar between patient groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that some, but not all sleep disorders considerably compromise glucose metabolism. Repeated arousals during sleep might be a pivotal causative factor deserving further experimental investigations to reveal potential novel targets for the prevention of metabolic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Marietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keckeis
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lattova
authors.forename: Eszter
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maurovich-Horvat
authors.forename: Pierre A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Beitinger
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Birkmann
authors.forename: Christoph J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lauer
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Wetter
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wilde-Frenz
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pollmächer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000378:metabolism; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D005947:Glucose