The connection is even closer. About 40 percent of all men who
have type 2 diabetes also have sleep apnea, according to
research that Daniel Einhorn, the director of the Sharp Diabetes
Treatment and Research Center in San Diego, and three associates
presented at the 65th Scientific Sessions of the American
Diabetes Association in poster 2415. They found that the
proportion went up to 61 percent among men older than 65.
Another similarity is that a lot of people with both conditions
don’t know that they have it. The U.S. government has told us
for years that one-third of all Americans with diabetes haven’t
been diagnosed yet. That’s a lot, but it’s even higher with
sleep apnea. Fully 93 percent of women and 82 percent of men
with moderate to severe sleep apnea haven’t been diagnosed,
according to a study in the journal Sleep. The consequences of
uncontrolled diabetes and of sleep apnea can also be much more
severe than most people might guess. How important can it be to
have “a little sugar” in the blood and t