Relations entre obésité et troubles non respiratoires : analyse de la littérature

Relationships between obesity and sleep apnoeas have been well recognized for many years. Recently, several studies suggested a potential link between obesity and sleep disorders apart from obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome. Experimental research in this field tries to explain the observations provided by epidemiologic studies. Indeed, in these studies, a decrease of total sleep time seems to be associated with weight gain. Besides, sleep duration is suspected to play a role in the development of diabetes mellitus, a frequent comorbidity linked to obesity. Furthermore, some other studies explored the relationships between daytime sleepiness and obesity apart from respiratory disorders. Inflammatory cytokines may play a role in mediating sleepiness in patients with obesity. All this findings offer new perspectives of research but need to be confirmed by future experimentations.