New NUS study: Poor sleep health linked to increased Type 2 diabetes risk in high-risk women with history of gestational diabetes

Published: 17 Mar 2025

Underscoring the critical role of sleep in diabetes prevention, investigators from the Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health (GloW) and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, based at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), in collaboration with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, has identified a significant link between sleep health and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes (T2D) among women with a history of gestational diabetes (GDM).

By prioritising better sleep, women with a history of GDM can take proactive steps toward reducing their long-term risk of developing T2D and improving overall metabolic health. Led by Professor Zhang Cuilin, Director of GloW, and Dr Yin Xin, Research Fellow at GloW, their team analysed data of nearly 3,000 women with a history of GDM over 17 years from the Nurses’ Health Study II and found that those who slept six hours or fewer per night had a 32 per cent higher risk of developing T2D compared to those who met the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep.

Additionally, regular snoring—defined as snoring most nights per week or every night—was associated with a 61% increased risk of T2D. Women who experienced both short sleep duration and regular snoring faced more than double the risk compared to those with healthy sleep patterns. Beyond increasing diabetes risk, regular snoring was also associated with unfavourable glucose metabolism biomarkers, including elevated levels of HbA1c, insulin, and C-peptide, all of which signal potential metabolic dysfunction.

Having opened new avenues for diabetes prevention, the study’s researchers are now looking to develop tailored interventions for Asian women that include improving sleep quality, diet, and other lifestyles, and to better understand underlying molecular mechanisms.