New Study Links Warming Temperatures to OSA

Lying awake worrying about climate change? A warming world might actually make it worse, according to recent research. A new study in the journal Nature Communications found that higher temperatures make for an increase in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

The study, “Global warming may increase the burden of obstructive sleep apnea,” looked at ambient temperature’s impact on more than 116,000 people using a Food and Drug Administration-approved device that fits under sleepers’ mattresses. The sensor, an inflatable mat, records changes in air pressure that give signals of breathing and bodily changes, including cardiac motion, and can determine whether someone is experiencing OSA and its severity.

They tracked people in 41 countries, comparing the daily temperatures with sleep quality.

For each user, the sensor recorded around 500 separate nights of data. Then the researcher conducted modeling using disability adjusted life years to determine the societal burden due to increased prevalence of OSA from rising temperatures under different climate projections.

Economic Impact

The estimated total economic cost associated was about $98 billion, including $68 billion from the loss of well-being and $30 billion lost in terms of workplace productivity and attendance.

Prior Research

A 2024 study published in the Journal of Sleep Research looked at the link between air pollution, weather and adherence to positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy. It looked at more than 8,000 Canadian adults who had purchased PAP devices from registered providers and compared with local conditions based on their postal code. They found that PAP users were significantly less likely to do their treatment when there was lower air quality—even when the air pollution was at relatively low levels—higher temperatures and higher barometric pressures.

“If confirmed by further research, our findings would be informative to health care practitioners,” the authors wrote. “For example, individuals with OSA could receive timely … alerts about reduced air quality, which may affect their PAP use. They could avoid outdoor activities, restrict activities such as long drives, which may be risky if sleepy due to reduced PAP adherence, or consider using air filtration systems to maintain lower indoor air pollution. Lowering bedroom temperatures may also favorably influence adherence to therapy.”

Findings

The researchers concluded that the probability of having OSA was 45% higher during days with high temperatures compared to days with lower temperatures.

“Using our modeling, we can estimate how burdensome the increase in OSA prevalence due to rising temperature is to society in terms of well-being and economic loss,” said Bastien Lechat, senior research fellow and Flinders Health and Medicine Research Institute in Australia and the study’s lead author.

“The increase in OSA prevalence in 2023 due to global warming was associated with a loss of approximately 800,000 healthy life years across the 29 countries studied,” he continued.” This number is similar to other medical conditions, such as bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease or chronic kidney diseases.”

The authors noted that European countries experienced more elevated OSA rates on warm days than did the U.S. and Australia, possibly because of differing rates of the use of air conditioning