Its rise temperaturewhich is a direct consequence of climate change is linked to a greater chance of emerging obstructive sleeping apneaaccording to a study of Flinders University to Australiapublished in the magazine «Nature Communications».
Sleep apnea, which disrupts breathing during sleep, almost affects a billion people worldwide And if not treated, it increases the risk of dementia and Parkinson’s, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, anxiety and depression, traffic accidents and overall mortality, as previous research had found.
In this study, sleep data were analyzed by more than 116,000 people worldwidewhich were collected from a sensor under the mattress to assess the severity of obstructive sleep apnea. For each participant, the sensor recorded data for approximately 500 nights.
The researchers then compared this sleep data with detailed 24 -hour temperature information coming from climate models. They also performed modeling of health finances using years -adapted disability adjusted life years, an indicator used by the World Health Organization and reflects the combined impact of illness, injury and premature mortality. The aim was to quantify prosperity and social burden due to the increased prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea from rising temperatures under various predicted climate scenarios.
In the survey it was found that higher temperatures were associated with 45% increased probability a person who sleeps to show obstructive sleep apnea over a given night. The findings were different depending on the region, with residents of European countries showing higher rates of sleep apnea compared to those who lived in Australia and the US, which researchers attribute to the different degree of use of air conditioning.
It was also found that the increase in the appearance of obstructive sleep apnea in 2023 due to global warming is associated with a loss of approximately 800,000 years of healthy life in the 29 countries studied. This number is similar to other medical conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease or chronic kidney disease.
The cost
Correspondingly, the estimated total financial costs associated with the disease was approximately US $ 98 billionincluding 68 billion US dollars by the loss of wellness and 30 billion US dollars by loss of workplace productivity (lack of work or reduced productivity at work).
The senior researcher of the publication, professor Danny Eertclarifies that the study was oriented to countries and people with a high socio -economic level, probably with access to more favorable sleeping environments and air conditioning, and this “may have influenced our estimates and led to the underestimation of real health costs and costs”.
The lead writer and sleep specialist, Bastinfrom the FHMRI Sleep Health Institute of Flinders, says this is the first study of its kind to describe how global warming is expected to affect breathing during sleep, as well as the health, well -being and economy of the world. As he adds, “we were surprised by the magnitude of the correlation between the ambient temperature and the severity of obstructive sleep apnea”.
Researchers warn that sleep apnea will become more frequent and more severe due to global warming, leading to increased health and economic burdens worldwide. Without more political action to slow down global warming, it is estimated that the weight of obstructive sleep apnea can be doubled by 2100 due to the rise of temperatures.