The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is one of the diseases related to diabetes. Considering the varying prevalence of OSA in patients with type 2 diabetes in different parts of the world, in order to aggregate the results and come to a general review about the topic mentioned, the current study performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of OSA in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods In this study, the international databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, and Cochran library) were searched without time limit using keywords diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, and prevalence or epidemiology. Homogeneity was investigated among studies using Cochran Q test and I2 index. Given the heterogeneity of studies, random effect model was used to estimate the prevalence of OSA. Meta-regression was used to investigate the effect of quantitative variables on the prevalence of OSA. Comprehensive Meta-analysis (CMA) software was used for data analysis. Results Twenty studies were included in the meta-analysis. In these 19 studies, the total number of patients with type 2 diabetes was 10,754, with a mean age of 58.6 ± 4.1 years. Final estimation of OSA prevalence was calculated to be 56.0%. The results of meta-regression showed the prevalence of OSA increased with a rise in the mean age, the percentage of male sex, body mass index, and sample size. Conclusion Given the high prevalence of OSA in patients with type 2 diabetes, weight control can partly mitigate their problems and possibly reduce OSA prevalence.