An international study has recently identified insomnia as a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study also identifies over 30 risk factors that can either increase or decrease the risk of developing T2D as well as 21 suggestive risk factors.
The study, conducted by Susanna Larsson and Shuai Yuan from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, was recently published in the journal Diabetologia. The pair used the Mendelian randomization (MR) technique to identify risk factors for T2D.
Type 2 diabetes is more common in adults, but can also affect children due to childhood obesity. It is a condition where the body resists insulin or lacks production of the hormone. Insulin regulates glucose levels, which are necessary for energy.
In 2015, the International Diabetes Federation determined that type 2 diabetes affects 9 percent of adults around the world. Increasing numbers of T2D have been associated with several diseases such as damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart conditions, and sleep apnea.
Identifying Specific Risk Factors
Previous studies have revealed risk factors such as lifestyle, diet, biomarkers, and environmental factors. However, there had been a lack of observational studies that have identified specific risk factors.
Results from an MR analysis helps separate genetic traits. Although previous MR studies have ruled out biomarkers such as obesity, nutrition, hormones, and inflammatory factors, they haven't identified the causal effects of possible risk factors on the condition.
The scientists went through 1,360 studies from the PubMed database and found 97 risk factors that can be analyzed using the MR method. They combined the articles with data from the Diabetes Genetics Replication and Meta-analysis consortium which included over 70,000 people with T2D and over 800,000 controls from Europe. Data was also compared to the FinnGen consortium which had 11,000 cases of T2D and 82,600 control cases.
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Insomnia & Sleep Quality
The risk factors were narrowed down to 19 risk factors and 15 protective factors. Insomnia is one of the novel risk factors, increasing the chances of developing type 2 diabetes by 17 percent.
Other risk factors included caffeine consumption, high blood pressure, smoking, liver function, visceral fat, resting heart rate, and many others. Protective factors or factors that decreased the risk of developing T2D included good cholesterol or high-density lipoprotein, blood plasma, testosterone levels, vitamin D, and body mass index (BMI)
When the researchers adjusted factors to adulthood BMI, eight factors were identified to significantly increase the risk of T2D, including insomnia and short sleep duration. "Short sleep and poor sleep quality have been shown to be associated with less healthy eating and irregular meal patterns," the authors wrote.
Twenty-one suggestive factors were also identified but lacked evidence to prove that they increased the risk of developing the condition. These included taking naps, alcohol consumption, skipping breakfast, eating salty foods, and inflammatory factors. The study can help with designing preventive strategies of developing T2D "such as lowering obesity and smoking rates and levels, and improving mental health, sleep quality, educational level, and birth weight," they wrote.
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