A new 'global atlas' study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]) is the first to identify insomnia as a risk factor associated with increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study identifies 34 risk factors that are thought to increase (19) or decrease risk (15), as well as a further 21 'suggestive' risk factors where evidence was not quite as strong.
[...] They found evidence of causal associations between 34 exposures (19 risk factors and 15 protective factors) and T2D. Insomnia was identified as a novel risk factor, with people with insomnia being 17% more likely to develop T2D than those without.
[...] The authors conclude: "Our study confirmed several previously established risk factors and identified novel potential risk factors for type 2 diabetes using the latest summary-level data. Findings should inform public health policies for the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes. Prevention strategies should be constructed from multiple perspectives, such as lowering obesity and smoking rates and levels, and improving mental health, sleep quality, educational level and birthweight."
Journal Reference:
Shuai Yuan, Susanna C. Larsson. An atlas on risk factors for type 2 diabetes: a wide-angled Mendelian randomisation study [open], Diabetologia (DOI: 10.1007/s00125-020-05253-x)
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday September 15 2020, @01:51PM (6 children)
Another study that does not quote any systematic uncertainty. Bin chuck
There is a mysterious phrase
> the result of an [Mendelian Randomisation] analysis is less likely to be driven by confounding because genetic
> variants are randomly allocated at conception and, therefore, one trait is generally unrelated to other traits
which doesn't make sense to me. Sounds like black magic.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday September 15 2020, @03:56PM (5 children)
My first (and typical for me) reaction to the article's title was: does something that causes diabetes also cause insomnia? IE, is there a common factor that causes both, and maybe the diabetes takes longer, and/or other factors are needed for the diabetes to also develop?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 15 2020, @04:18PM
It's possible but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Tuesday September 15 2020, @04:31PM (1 child)
Not even that - they subtract off a correction for BMI, but there is little detail on how that is done or how accurately it is done.
> we adopted the multivariable MR method testing for mediation by BMI, rather than allowing
> for an independent effect of BMI as well as mediation by BMI simultaneously.
Does this mean they took into account correlation of BMI with insomnia? How accurately can that be done? E.g. this study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700549/ [nih.gov]
This *also* does not quote systematic errors, and indicates a strong correlation with age group, which needs correction as well. One notes age is strongly correlated with Type II diabetes.
There are so many horrible, horrible confounding factors that are all correlated in a totally non-trivial way; I don't see how it can ever be untangled.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Tuesday September 15 2020, @08:21PM
They subtract off a correction for BMI, but there is little detail on how that is done or how accurately it is done.
BMI is a completely useless measure of anything at all. It fails to distinguish between fat and muscle and rates extremely fit professional sports people in the same category as professional couch potatoes.
The mere fact of mentioning BMI is proof that the study is meaningless twaddle.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by https on Tuesday September 15 2020, @07:47PM (1 child)
Irregular sleep really fucks over the regulation of leptin and ghrelin [nih.gov]. Hunger increases, but if you do actually eat your body has difficulty processing the "that is enough food" signal that healthy people get when they, well, eat enough food.
So it's no surprise that insomnia is associated with diabetes.
Offended and laughing about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 16 2020, @01:12AM
Along those lines, I have a hypothesis: in the medical industry obesity is listed as a major risk factor for sleep apnea. I suspect that in at least some portion of cases, the causation link is reversed. If you have sleep apnea, your sleep quality is much lower - which has the same impact on your leptin and ghrelin levels as insomnia. Thus your hunger levels are artificially boosted, increasing the chances you develop obesity.
I would add that high quality, consistent sleep also helps the body reduce inflammation and stress levels. So it's possible that's actually the way insomnia increases type 2 diabetes risk.
(Score: 2) by Lester on Wednesday September 16 2020, @05:49PM
That is the problem I see in many studies. if you are in wheel chair you have a 77% more risk of being paraplegic.
Correlation is just correlation.