¸ñÀû: Korea experiences notable seasonal fluctuations in temperature and
humidity, which may affect various aspects of sleep, including the
Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) and snoring frequency. This study
examines monthly variations in AHI and snoring using Sleep Routine,
a mobile, audio-based, contactless sleep-tracking service. ¹æ¹ý:Data were collected from December 1, 2023, to November 30, 2024,
from users in Korea who used the app at least once per month.
Sessions under 4 hours or over 15 hours, as well as those in which
any one of the four sleep stages had a ratio of 100%, were excluded
as invalid. The service uses an AI model to estimate AHI based on
detected OSA events and sleep stages, and also detects snoring on
an epoch basis. According to previous validation studies, the AI
model demonstrates accuracies of 88%, 93%, and 94% for detecting
AHI thresholds of 5, 15, and 30, respectively, in home
environments, while snoring detection achieved an epoch-level
accuracy of 91.4%. °á°ú:A total of 237,190 sessions from 1,067 users were analyzed, averaging about 19,766 sessions per month (range: 17,321-21,544). Each user measured an average of 222.3 sessions (SD = 74.21, range: 24-358). The overall mean AHI was 4.77. By month, the lowest AHI was 4.53 in October, and the highest was 4.96 in July (p < 0.001). Seasonally, AHI tended to be higher in the summer (June–August) and lower in the fall (September–November). Snoring frequency data were available from January to November due to the service¡¯s launch schedule. The overall average was 17.57%, peaking at 19.86% in March and dipping to 14.17% in August (p < 0.001). °á·Ð:While AHI patterns were less clearly associated with specific
climate factors, snoring frequency appeared to have a strong
correlation with temperature data from the Seoul region. Although
reliance on a commercial service poses accuracy and usage
limitations, this large-scale dataset provides valuable real-world
insights into seasonal changes in sleep-disordered breathing. |