The impact of sleep apnea treatment on carbohydrate metabolism in patients with acromegaly

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Somatostatin in the context of sleep apnea (obstructive) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The primary aim of this study was to assess the impact of sleep apnea treatment with a continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) device on insulin resistance evaluated by hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp (HEC).

Why It Was Studied

Sleep Apnea is highly prevalent and may contribute to insulin resistance in patients with acromegaly.

A prospective, randomized, open label, placebo-controlled, crossover study was performed at a tertiary outpatient pituitary center.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Twelve acromegalic subjects on somatostatin analogs (SA) with a recent diagnosis of moderate to severe sleep apnea were randomized to CPAP therapy or to nasal dilator adhesive (NDA) with placebo effect for 3 months and then crossed over for another 3 months period without washout.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, open-label, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Because people in this Somatostatin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Nothing was hidden in this open-label Somatostatin study: the participants and staff both knew the treatment.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Somatostatin, giving a reference point.

Each person switched between Somatostatin and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

The timeline in the abstract includes 3 months.

What Was Measured

Assessment of HEC, mathematical insulin resistance indexes (HOMA, HOMA2 and QUICKI), GH, IGF-1, HbA1c and free fat acids were performed.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Acromegaly, Carbohydrate Metabolism, Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, Glucose Clamp Technique, Sleep Apnea Syndromes and Somatostatin.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, open-label and placebo-controlled study of Somatostatin in people with sleep apnea (obstructive) over 3 months.

The publication is from 2013 (Pituitary), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Somatostatin compound page, Sleep apnea (obstructive) research.