Sleep and Glycemia in Youth With Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Introduction: Short sleep duration and quality are problems for many youth, and are associated with difficulties in executive function. Our purpose was to describe subjective and objective sleep characteristics and their associations with executive function, stress and coping, adjustment, and self-management in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Method: Youth with T1D (N = 40; mean age, 13.4 ± 1.9 years; 60% female; 77.1% non-Hispanic white; diabetes duration, 7.1 ± 4.6 years; and hemoglobin A1c, 8.2 ± 1.2%) wore an actigraph and a continuous glucose monitor for 3-7 days and completed questionnaires. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were conducted.

Results: Sleep variability was associated with stress and depressive symptoms, as well as more glucose variability. Consistent rest-activity rhythm timing was associated with fewer trait anxiety symptoms. Robust rhythms were associated with better diabetes self-management.

Discussion: Providers should routinely assess sleep habits in youth, especially those with T1D. Improving consistency in sleep timing and sleep duration may be a potential therapeutic target to improve diabetes clinical outcomes.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; diabetes self-management; sleep; type 1; youth.

Figure 1.

Rest-activity rhythm and glucose variabilities (CGM) Red: high glucose values; blue: glucose levels in range; green: rest-activity rhythm. We fitted the glucose values over the rest activity rhythm.