Author(s)

Miki Sato, Yuko Yasuhara, Tetsuya Tanioka, Yukie Iwasa, Masafumi Miyake, Haruo Kobayashi, Rozzano C. Locsin, Seizo Kinoshita, Masatoshi Masuda, Hiroshi Shimizu

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, USA.
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Shikoku University, Tokushima, Japan;.
Department of Nursing, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of Tokushima Graduate School, Tokushima, Japan.
Faculty of Medical Welfare, Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare, Kurashiki, Japan.
Kinoshita Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
Tokushima Prefectural Minami Health Care Center, Tokushima, Japan.
Toyo Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between sleep condition and autonomic nervous function of women in their 70s with type 2 diabetes mellitus by analyzing the activity counts (AC) on actigraphs and heart rate variability (HRV). Ten healthy women in their 30s to 40s as control and four women patients with type 2 diabetes in their 70s wore the electrocardiograph and an actigraph for 24 hours while keeping a diary of activities, including their sleep and food intake. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to assess subjective sleep conditions. The subjective sleeping results were significantly correlated with those measured by the AC and HRV. However, AC and HRV correlation pattern showed different activity in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The quality of sleep of those with chronic diabetes was not good even if their HbA1c was well controlled. Furthermore, their automatic nervous function was different from the control group. The sleeping hours of patients with type 2 diabetes were shorter or longer than those of healthy women. Ultimately, this study maintains that it is important to examine automatic nervous functions using objective examination index during the early stage of diabetes mellitus.

Actigraphy; Heart Rate Variability; Autonomic Nervous Function; Sleep Condition; Diabetes; HbAlc

Sato, M. , Yasuhara, Y. , Tanioka, T. , Iwasa, Y. , Miyake, M. , Kobayashi, H. , Locsin, R. , Kinoshita, S. , Masuda, M. and Shimizu, H. (2013) The relationship between sleep condition and autonomic nervous function in women in their 70s with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Health, 5, 1875-1883. doi: 10.4236/health.2013.511253.