New study finds potential link between global warming, OSA
By HME News Staff
Updated 9:33 AM CDT, Mon June 16, 2025
LONDON – A new study in Nature underscores the potential significant impact of increasing ambient temperatures on the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea globally. Without substantially greater policy change to slow global warming, the health and economic burdens associated with OSA may double by 2100, the study’s authors say. These results highlight the urgency of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, in alignment with the Paris Agreement, they say. The results also emphasize the immediate need for targeted measures to potentially minimize the health and economic impacts of the growing OSA prevalence associated with rising temperatures, they say. A few highlights from the study:
- Globally, higher temperatures (99th vs. 25th; 27.3 vs. 6.4 °C) were associated with a 45% higher probability of having OSA on a given night (mean [95% confidence interval]; 1.45 [1.44, 1.47]).
- Warming-related increase in OSA prevalence in 2023 was estimated to be associated with a loss of 788,198 (489,226, 1,087,170) healthy life years (in 29 countries) and a workplace productivity loss of 30 (21 to 40) billion United States dollars.
- Scenarios with projected temperatures ≥1.8 °C above pre-industrial levels would incur a further 1.2 to 3-fold increase in OSA burden by 2100.
Read the study here.
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