CPAP treatment leads to better controlled diabetes in patients with sleep apnoea

People with type 2 diabetes who also suffer from obstructive sleep apnoea may benefit from a form of treatment known as CPAP (continuous positive air pressure), a new study has revealed.
To assess the effectiveness of using continuous positive air pressure to manage this common breathing disorder in patients with type 2 diabetes, Dr Julian Guest of King’s College London, and colleagues looked at the outcomes of 150 type 2 diabetic patients in the UK who received CPAP treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea over five years and compared them with those of 150 matched patients who did not receive the treatment.
They found that use of CPAP led to long-term improvements in blood pressure (both systolic and diastolic blood pressure) and blood glucose, with CPAP-treated patients showing increasingly lower HbA1c levels over five consecutive years, compared with the control group.
CPAP treatment also significantly improved patients’ overall wellbeing, with the researchers calculating a gain of 0.27 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) per patient over the five years. With the cost to the National Health Service (NHS) amounting to £4,141 per patient over five years, the cost per QALY gained with CPAP was £15,337.
“Initiating treatment with CPAP in obstructive sleep apnoea patients with type 2 diabetes leads to significantly lower blood pressure and better controlled diabetes and affords a cost-effective use of NHS resources,” the study’s authors concluded.
“These observations have the potential for treatment modification if confirmed in a prospective study.”
The findings were published online earlier this month in Diabetes Care journal.