A study links climate change to a global increase in sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea will become more common and severe due to global warming, leading to greater economic and health burdens worldwide, warn sleep experts at Flinders University in a study published in the journal Nature Communications. It is a common condition that occurs when breathing stops and starts multiple times during sleep. This can prevent the body from receiving enough oxygen.

Specifically, the study's lead author and sleep expert, Bastien Lechat, notes that "without increased policy action to curb global warming , the societal burden of obstructive sleep apnea could double by 2100 due to rising temperatures."

The study analyzed sleep data from more than 116,000 people worldwide over 3.5 years using an under-mattress sensor to estimate the severity of OSA (obstructive sleep apnea). They also compared this sleep data with detailed 24-hour temperature information obtained from climate models.

Thus, it has been shown that high temperatures are associated with a 45 percent increase in the likelihood of a person suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on a given night.

Furthermore, the increase in OSA prevalence in 2023 due to global warming was associated with a loss of approximately 800,000 healthy life years in the 29 countries studied, Lechat notes. This figure is similar to that of other medical conditions, such as bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease, or chronic kidney disease, he adds.

On the other hand, the total estimated economic cost associated with this was approximately $98 billion, including $68 billion in lost well-being and $30 billion in lost work productivity.

However, the paper's lead researcher, Professor Danny Eckert, says the study was biased toward high-socioeconomic status countries and individuals, who were likely to have access to more favorable sleeping environments and air conditioning, which could have led to an underestimation of the true economic and health costs.

The researchers also acknowledge that it's important to note that these findings varied by region : people in European countries had higher rates of OSA when temperatures rose than those in Australia and the United States, "perhaps due to different rates of air conditioning use."

Finally, the study concludes that higher diagnosis and treatment rates will help manage and reduce adverse health and productivity problems caused by climate-related OSA.