175 Million Europeans Have Sleep Apnoea, Highlighting Scale of Global Health Crisis

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175 Million Europeans Have Sleep Apnoea, Highlighting Scale of Global Health Crisis

Late-breaking abstract at ERS Congress provides new estimate from leading researchers and key opinion leaders

Roughly 175 million Europeans have obstructive sleep apnoea, according to a late-breaking abstract presented by ResMed today at the European Respiratory Society’s annual ERS Congress in Paris. Leading researchers estimate 90 million Europeans have moderate to severe sleep apnoea, meaning they experience at least 15 breathing events an hour during sleep.

These statistics are based on the latest scoring rules for determining one’s apnoea–hypopnoea index (AASM 2012) and are connected with a 16-country study announced in May 2018 that revealed an estimated 936 million people worldwide have sleep apnoea, a chronic sleep-disordered breathing condition associated with increased risk of mortality and reduced quality of life.

The new global prevalence is nearly tenfold higher than the previous one – 100 million – estimated by the World Health Organization in 2007.

European countries with the highest prevalence are:
•   Russia, 40 million
•   Germany, 26 million
•   France, 24 million
•   Ukraine, 13 million
•   Spain, 9 million
•   United Kingdom, 8 million

“This data is a warning call to Europe’s doctors and other care providers to properly identify, screen and diagnose these people so they can get the life-changing treatment they need,” said Dr. Adam Benjafield, lead researcher and ResMed’s vice president of Medical Affairs.

Benjafield said one sign of an at-risk patient is whether they have a related chronic medical condition:

•   83% of people with drug-resistant hypertension have sleep apnoea
•   77% of people with obesity
•   76% of people with chronic heart failure
•   72% of people with type 2 diabetes
•   62% of people with a prior stroke
•   49% of people with atrial fibrillation
“Doctors should screen their patients if they have any of these conditions,” said Benjafield, “especially if a patient has exhibited sleep apnoea-related symptoms like snoring, daytime sleepiness or frequent nighttime urination.”