Researchers from Lleida relate diabetes and lung function

The research of the Research Group on Obesity, Diabetes and Metabolism (ODIM) of the Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida (IRBLleida) is focused on analyzing the association between diabetes mellitus type 2 and respiratory function during sleep, a relationship that has not been addressed by no other Spanish or European research group. "Apart from worrying about the presence of certain diseases associated with diabetes, such as retinopathy, we also have to ask ourselves how people with diabetes breathe", explains the head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital, Albert Lecube.

"The lung has to be considered as one of the target organs of complications caused by diabetes," says the professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lleida. Current research has shown that diabetes negatively affects breathing during sleep, confirming it as an independent risk factor for severe nocturnal hypoxia. This research is carried out with the Translational Research Group in Respiratory Medicine led by Ferran Barbé.

"Patients with diabetes have an altered sleep architecture, with characteristic differences compared to the population without diabetes, depending on whether it is the REM phase (at which time the increase in nocturnal hypoxia occurs) or the phase noREM (in which there is greater fragmentation of sleep), explains Lecube. Therefore, the head of the Research Group clarifies that in the same diagnosis of sleep apnea syndrome, this will have to be considered more serious in the subject with diabetes. The researcher also highlights the importance of checking how improving glycemic control over a short period of time produces a significant decrease in nocturnal episodes of oxygen de-saturation.

"All this causes that patients with diabetes, and especially those with higher blood glucose levels, have a higher degree of daytime sleepiness and worse sleep quality" reports the head of the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital.