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ture growth. What are some notable recent R&D findings? R&D funds go into improving every aspect of the user’s experience. We continue to push the envelope on digital solutions designed to engage, motivate, and empower users to track and improve their own treatment. This is true across much of healthcare, but ResMed has long been a leader in this space – today there are nearly 18 million connected ResMed de- vices on bedside tables across 140+ countries. Our latest PAP platform AirSense 11 features new digital solutions; one guides new users onto treatment with confidence, and the oth- er automatically checks in with users at 30, 60 and 90 days and so on to see how they’re doing. And of course, we’re always striving to make the therapy itself smaller, quieter, more comfortable. PAP treatment just turned 40, and in four short decades we’ve made leaps and bounds – from a 10-kilogram machine the size (and noise) of a pool air filter to the ResMed AirMini, which has waterless humidifi- cation, runs off your phone, and itself is about the size of an iPhone – the world’s smallest PAP to date, weighing about 0.032 kilograms. Still, there’s much more to unlock; we’re not done improving on these technologies. Can ResMed’s historic and anticipated con- tribution to humanity be quantified/esti- mated? The COVID-19 years introduced global supply chain challenges, as well as a major competi- tor recall in our industry. It is undisputed that the need for ventilators at the outset of the pandemic was massive and critical, and I’m incredibly proud of ResMed’s – and frankly all

sleep disruptions can increase your risk of de- veloping depression. In fact, one in five people with depression are believed to have OSA, according to the U.S. National Sleep Founda- tion. There are profound benefits for individu- als and whole societies in improving our sleep and collectively prioritising good sleep. Are Australians overall good sleepers? Are there reliable, current statistics available on sleeping disorder prevalence? Australians get an average 6.8 hours per night, according to ResMed’s own Global Sleep Sur- veys taken in March 2022 – marginally below 7 to 9 hours per night; not all that bad. But there are two big caveats. One, “average” implies half of Australians are getting less than that amount, and I urge any of those folks to priori- tise sleep for their health and quality of life. And two, it is estimated that at least 3 million Aus- tralians have sleep apnea, many of them undi- agnosed and untreated. Those millions of peo- ple may think they’re getting 7 to 9 hours, when in fact their bodies could be waking dozens or hundreds of times a night to prevent mini sleep suffocations caused by their apneas. For these folks, the key to restoring and optimising their sleep begins with diagnosing their condition and treating it at home. What are some of the latest notable cut- ting-edge R&D findings, nationally and globally, related to sleeping disorders from cause, treatment, and cure perspectives? Sleep apnea is an important component of chronic disease. If the sleep apnea is left untreat- ed, many damaging conditions may occur such as hypertension, and eventually type 2 diabe-

tes. There are many other connections between untreated OSA and chronic diseases. The bottom line is that OSA needs treatment otherwise one’s health will significantly deteriorate. How and where has ResMed expanded sci- entific knowledge of sleeping disorders in the years since your original article on this subject was prepared? We can now say that PAP treatment has helped people live longer. The landmark ALASKA study presented at last year’s Euro- pean Respiratory Society Congress in France showed people with OSA who stayed on ther- apy were 39 per cent more likely to survive over a 3-year period than OSA patients who didn’t. There were over 176,000 people in this study – and the results held regardless of age, preexisting conditions, overall health, or cause of death. It goes to show how important diag- nosis and treatment of this disease really are. ResMed are truly leaders not just in helping the world treat these diseases but in under- standing them – how common they are, their effects on other diseases and facets of our health, and what types of digital solutions and other interventions work best in terms of en- gaging people to start and stay on treatment. ResMed’s latest global study on the prev- alence of sleep apnea found that it affects almost a billion people worldwide, including some 3 million Australians. This study has be- come one of the most cited resources of prev- alence, and people are becoming more aware of how big an issue OSA is if left untreated. ResMed invests around 7 to 8 per cent of company revenue into R&D to support fu-

leading ventilator makers’ – ability to produce what we did to meet the world’s demand and save countless lives. ResMed itself pivoted its whole business to make ventilators – it’s usu- ally less than 10 per cent of our business – and set a record: hundreds of thousands of these lifesaving devices were produced in 2020 alone. Today, ResMed is helping fill an histor- ic need for PAP devices in the wake of global supply shortages and a competitor’s recall. We’re talking with suppliers to get the chips we need so millions of people worldwide can get the nightly sleep they require. “Australians get an average 6.8 hours per night, which implies that half of us are getting even less than that. Getting better quality sleep – and more of it – can pay dividends for health and quality of life in the short and long term.”

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Interesting viewing - What Are the Consequenc- es of Sleep Deprivation?

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