Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition wherein a person's sleep is interrupted by complete obstruction of the airways. The sufferer practically stops breathing while sleeping, thereby waking up which can happen several times throughout the night.

[In obstructive sleep apnea, the upper airway narrows, or collapses, during sleep. Periods of apnea end with a brief partial arousal that may disrupt sleep up to hundreds of times a night.]

Independent of other risk factors, obstructive sleep apnea has been found to increase the risk for developing type II diabetes, according to Yale University School of Medicine researchers.

"...patients diagnosed with sleep apnea had more than two-and-half times the risk of developing diabetes compared with those without the nighttime breathing disorder."

People with obstructive sleep apnea are most likely to be obese, hypertensive or have heart disease (these being major risk factors of the condition), thus it isn't really surprising to me that it is now being associated to type 2 diabetes.

Obstructive sleep apnea is most effectively treated by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) - delivering air through a mask while the patient sleeps, keeping the airway open. This help the patients get some decent sleep at night, thereby improving their quality of life, like prevent drowsiness during the day or traffic accidents.

Now, researchers are going to look whether treatment of sleep apnea can improve conditions such as diabetes.

"Our next step will be to determine whether the treatment of sleep apnea can improve an individual's diabetic parameters and consequently the negative health effects of diabetes." says researcher Nader Botros, M.D., of Yale University.

These findings on sleep apnea-diabetes correlation have been presented today at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference.

Find more details from the full report.