Global OSA Prevalence Is Estimated at 936 Million Adults

More than 930 million adults have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) worldwide, according to new data. Moreover, the United States has the second-highest prevalence of OSA after China.

To gain a better understanding of the global burden of OSA, the researchers identified published studies on the prevalence of OSA via PubMed and Embase.

For studies that did not use the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) 2012 scoring criteria to identify OSA, a conversion algorithm was created to determine an equivalent apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) score.

Prevalence of OSA based on AASM 2012 criteria among patients aged 30 to 69 years was considered the primary end point. This group of individuals generally had the most available data in published studies.

The researchers found OSA prevalence data for 16 countries from 17 studies. Overall, 936 million adults worldwide have mild to severe OSA and 425 million adults worldwide have moderate to severe OSA.

China had the highest prevalence of OSA, followed by the United States, Brazil, and India.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to report global prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea; with almost 1 billion people affected, and with prevalence exceeding 50% in some countries, effective diagnostic and treatment strategies are needed to minimise the negative health impacts and to maximise cost-effectiveness,” the researchers concluded

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Benjafield AV, Ayas NT, Eastwood PR, et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea: a literature-based analysis. Lancet Respir Med. 2019;7(8):687-698. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30198-5.