Chest
Volume 130, Issue 6, December 2006, Pages 1779-1783
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Original Research: Sleep Medicine
Longitudinal Study of Risk Factors for Habitual Snoring in a General Adult Population: The Busselton Health Study

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.130.6.1779Get rights and content

Background

The aim of this longitudinal study was to identify body size, behavioral, and respiratory risk factors for the development of habitual snoring in a general adult population.

Methods

The sample for this study comprised 967 adults aged 25 to 74 years who reported not snoring in the 1981 Busselton Health Survey and who also attended the 1994–1995 follow-up survey. Logistic regression was used to identify and quantify the effect of baseline and change risk factors for the development of habitual snoring.

Results

A total of 13% had become habitual snorers by 1994–1995. Male gender (odds ratio [OR], 3.5) and baseline body mass index (OR, 1.4 per 3.4 kg/m2) were significant predictors of habitual snoring; after accounting for these variables, no other baseline body size, behavioral, or respiratory/allergy variables were significantly related to the development of habitual snoring. However, change in body mass index over the 14-year follow-up period (OR, 1.55 per 2.3 kg/m2), development of asthma (OR, 2.8), and commencement of smoking (OR, 2.2) were additional significant independent risk factors for development of habitual snoring.

Conclusions

This study has confirmed male gender, obesity, and weight gain as key determinants of habitual snoring, and has indicated that development of asthma and taking up smoking also play a role. Maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking are recommended lifestyle preventive strategies to reduce the risk of sleep-disordered breathing and its sequelae.

Section snippets

Study Subjects

Busselton is a coastal town in Western Australia, and its residents have been the subject of several health surveys. Eleven cross-sectional surveys of all adults or school children in Busselton were conducted over the period 1966 to 1983. A follow-up survey of previous participants was conducted in 1994–1995. The study reported here is based on the cohort of 1,390 subjects who attended the 1981 survey of adults when aged 25 to 74 years, answered “no” to the question “Do you snore?” (possible

Results

Overall, a total of 13% reported being habitual snorers in 1994–1995 (21% in men and 8% in women). Table 1 describes the characteristics of the 967 subjects aged 25 to 74 years in 1981. Table 1 also shows the age-and gender-adjusted ORs for the association of each variable with habitual snoring in 1994–1995. Apart from (baseline) height and the change in triceps fatfold, all baseline body size and change body size variables showed significant associations with habitual snoring in 1994–1995. The

Discussion

This population-based study found an incidence of 13% for habitual snoring over a 14-year period (approximately 1%/yr). The study by Tishler et al12 found a 5-year incidence for moderately severe sleep-disordered breathing of approximately 10% (or 2%/yr). Our study counted incident cases (over 14 years) as going from no snoring to snoring often or more frequently (as explained in “Materials and Methods”). The study by Tishler et al12 defined incident cases (over 5 years) as going from an

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    Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml).

    The 1994–1995 Busselton Health Survey was supported by the Health Promotion Foundation of Western Australia. This analysis was supported by Project Grant 211988 from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

    The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

    This work was performed at The University of Western Australia.

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