SAN FRANCISCO — A new large study on Sunday claimed that rising temperatures
increase the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Published at the ‘ATS 2025 International Conference,’ the
study also found that, under the most likely climate change scenarios, the
societal burden of OSA is expected to double in most countries over the next 75
years.
In addition to highlighting the critical importance of
limiting global warming, the findings also emphasise the immediate need for
strategies to alleviate the health and economic impacts of OSA as it becomes
more common and severe, researchers said.
“This study really highlights the societal burden associated
with the increase in OSA prevalence due to rising temperatures,” said Bastien
Lechat, a senior research fellow at FHMRI: Sleep Health at Flinders University.
Previous cross-sectional studies identified a link between
ambient temperature and OSA severity. However, this is the first to explain and
describe that connection in detail.
For the study, researchers analysed a consumer database of
more than 116,000 worldwide users of an under-mattress sensor validated to
estimate OSA severity.
The dataset included around 500 repeat measurements per
user. Researchers then analysed this data against 24-hour ambient temperatures
extracted from climate models.
Overall, higher temperatures were associated with a 45 per
cent increased likelihood of a sleeper experiencing OSA on a given night.
However, these findings varied by region, with people in
European countries seeing higher rates of OSA when temperatures rise than those
in Australia and the United States.
“We were surprised by the magnitude of the association
between ambient temperature and OSA severity,” Dr Lechat noted.
Researchers then sought to estimate how burdensome the
increase in OSA prevalence due to rising temperature is to society in terms of
wellbeing and economic loss.
They conducted modelling including disability-adjusted-life-years,
productivity losses, and health economics to estimate the OSA burden under
several climate scenarios.
They found that any scenario that involved temperatures
rising 2 degrees Celsius or higher would result in a 1.5-fold to 3-fold
increase to the OSA burden by the year 2100. They estimated that climate change
has already increased the OSA burden by 50 percent to 100 percent since the
year 2000.
In addition to providing further evidence of the major
threat of climate change to human health and wellbeing, Dr. Lechat said the
study highlighted the importance of developing effective interventions to
diagnose and manage OSA.
“The high prevalence undiagnosed and untreated OSA amplifies
the effect of global warming on the societal burden associated with OSA,” he
said. “Higher rates of diagnosis and treatment is likely to reduce the health
and productivity burden due to rising temperature and increased OSA
prevalence.”
