Factors Associated with Habitual Snoring

Oh, Jung Eun

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There has been little research done on the factors associated with snoring among adults in Korea.
METHODS
Subjects for this cross-sectional study were 1940 adults aged 20 to 80 years who had visited the health promotion center at one university hospital in Chungcheongnam-do for general health check-ups. Standard interviews, anthropometrics, and biochemical studies were conducted. Habitual snoring was defined as snoring more than 4 days per week. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the associations between habitual snoring and age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia.
RESULTS
The prevalence of habitual snoring was 13.9%. The proportion of problem drinkers, current smokers, BMI equal to or greater than 25 kg/m2, abdominal obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-cholesterolemia increased significantly with increasing frequency in snoring (P<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that habitual snoring was independently associated with the 50-59 years age group, male, current smokers, abdominal obesity, hypertension and low HDL-cholesterolemia (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
These findings show that habitual snorers are at increased risk for individual risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases. Prospective studies are needed to further examine the causal relationship between habitual snoring and cardiovascular diseases.