Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug 6;13(16):4583.
doi: 10.3390/jcm13164583.

Prevalence of Diamine Oxidase Enzyme (DAO) Deficiency in Subjects with Insomnia-Related Symptoms

Raquel López García  1 , Júlia Ferrer-Garcia  1 , Anna Sansalvador  1 , Maria-Antonia Quera-Salva  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of Diamine Oxidase Enzyme (DAO) Deficiency in Subjects with Insomnia-Related Symptoms

Raquel López García et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: To assess the prevalence of diamine oxidase (DAO) enzyme deficiency caused by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the AOC1 gene in a sample of patients with symptoms of insomnia. Methods: A total of 167 adult patients (>18 years of age) with symptoms of insomnia attended a specialized institute for healthy sleep, in Barcelona (Spain), between May and November 2023, and underwent genotyping analysis of the four most relevant SNP variants, including c.691G>7 (rs2052129), c.47C>T (rs10156191), c.995C>T (rs1049742), and c.1990C>G (rs1049793). Results: Genetic DAO deficiency was present in 138 patients, with a prevalence rate of 82.6% (95% CI 76-88.1%). Difficulties in staying asleep were the most common complaints in 88% of patients followed by trouble falling asleep in 60.5%. More than half of patients suffered from insomnia symptoms every day. Also, 99.4% reported daytime consequences of insomnia, with fatigue (79.6%), mood changes (72.5%), and impaired concentration in 70.1%. When patients were grouped by DAO-score, which reflected the number of heterozygous and homozygous SNPs variants, the group with a DAO-score ≥ 4 vs. 1 showed higher percentages of insomnia-related symptoms, in particular, trouble staying asleep and early morning awakening. These two symptoms were also more common in the presence of the c.1990C>G (rs1049793) variant. Conclusions: This preliminary real-world study presents novel evidence of a potential link between a DAO enzyme deficiency of a genetic origin and clinical symptoms of insomnia, which may suggest the potential benefit of DAO supplementation to improve the quality of sleep in these subjects. The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06488027).

Keywords: AOC1 gene; diamine oxidase enzyme; genetic variants; histamine; insomnia; single nucleotide polymorphism; sleep problems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of DAO-score (0 to ≥4) and number SNP variants (0 to 4) in the study population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of patients with nighttime insomnia symptoms according to DAO-score.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sateia M.J. International classification of sleep disorders-third edition: Highlights and modifications. Chest. 2014;146:1387–1394. doi: 10.1378/chest.14-0970. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ohayon M.M. Epidemiology of insomnia: What we know and what we still need to learn. Sleep Med. Rev. 2002;6:97–111. doi: 10.1053/smrv.2002.0186. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Riemann D., Baglioni C., Bassetti C., Bjorvatn B., Dolenc Groselj L., Ellis J.G., Espie C.A., Garcia-Borreguero D., Gjerstad M., Gonçalves M., et al. European guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia. J. Sleep Res. 2017;26:675–700. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12594. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Torrens I., Argüelles-Vázquez R., Lorente-Montalvo P., Molero-Alfonso C., Esteva M. Prevalence of insomnia and characteristic of patients with insomnia in a health area of Majorca (Spain) Aten. Primaria. 2019;51:617–625. doi: 10.1016/j.aprim.2018.02.014. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Roth T. Insomnia: Definition, prevalence, etiology, and consequences. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 2007;3((Suppl. 5)):S7–S10. - PMC - PubMed

Associated data

LinkOut - more resources