People who have trouble sleeping are more likely to die from any cause - and diabetics with insomnia have an 87% higher risk, study finds

 People who have trouble sleeping are at higher risk of dying than those without sleep problems, especially if they are diabetics, a new study suggests.

Researchers examined data from around 500,000 middle-aged UK participants who were asked if they had trouble falling asleep or woke up in the middle of the night.

They found that people with frequent sleep problems were at a higher risk of dying than those without sleep problems.

During the nine years of the research, the study found that people with type 2 diabetes were 87 percent more likely to die of any cause than people without diabetes or sleep disturbances.

Additionally, results showed people with diabetes and sleep problems were 12 percent more likely to die over this period than those who had diabetes but not frequent sleep disturbances. 

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People with insomnia were 10% more likely to die from any cause, such as a car accident or heart attack, than those without sleep disturbances (file image)

Participants with type 2 diabetes and insomnia were 87% more likely to die of any cause than those without these issues, and people who were diabetics alone were 67% more likely to die (above)

'Although we already knew that there is a strong link between poor sleep and poor health, this illustrates the problem starkly,' said first author Dr Malcolm von Schantz, a professor of chronobiology from the University of Surrey in the UK.

'The question asked when the participants enrolled does not necessarily distinguish between insomnia and other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea. 

'Still, from a practical point of view it doesn't matter. Doctors should take sleep problems as seriously as other risk factors and work with their patients on reducing and mitigating their overall risk.'  

The team says says that to their knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of the combination of insomnia and diabetes on mortality risk. 

For the study, published in the Journal of Sleep Research, researchers analyzed data from about 487,700 participants from the UK Biobank.

The adults were split into four groups: no diabetes and no insomnia, insomnia but no diabetes, diabetes but not insomnia, and those with diabetes and insomnia.

When adjusted for age and sex, results showed that participants who had frequent sleep disturbances were 10 percent more likely to die from any cause - such as car accident and heart attack - than those without trouble sleeping.

However, diabetes was found to raise this risk even more significantly. 

'Diabetes alone was associated with a 67 percent increased risk of mortality,' said senior co-author Dr Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University in Illinois.

'However, the mortality for participants with diabetes combined with frequent sleep problems was increased to 87 percent.'

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Patients with diabetes and insomnia (as well as just diabetes) were two times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than patients without either condition or with just insomnia

What's more, patients who were both diabetic and insomniacs were more than two times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than patients without the conditions.

Only having insomnia did not raise the risk of heart disease.

Knutson added: 'In order words, it is particularly important for doctors treating people with diabetes to also investigate sleep disorders and consider treatments where appropriate.'

The team notes a limitation of the research was that participants were only asked one question.

Researchers say this did not not assess daytime consequences and the disturbances are not equivalent to a clinically diagnosed insomnia disorder.

However, they say that doctors who ask the question can help patients take the first steps to addressing insomnia nd mitigating the increased risk of death. 

'This simple question is a pretty easy one for a clinician to ask. You can even ask yourself,' Knutson said. 

'But it's a very broad question and there are a lot of reasons you might not be sleeping well. So it's important to bring it up with your doctor so they can dive deeper.