Risk factors for snoring among Japanese men and women: a community-based cross-sectional study

This study seeks to examine risk factors for snoring, a major symptom of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) because the evidence is limited in Asian populations.

Subjects for the present cross-sectional study were 3,138 men and 5,345 women aged 35–79 years from three communities in Japan who participated in the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study. The data on snoring frequency and cardiovascular health were obtained during annual cardiovascular surveys between 2000 and 2005. The logistic regression model was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) for snoring associated with body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, and other cardiovascular risk factors.

The prevalence of almost everyday snoring was 24% among men and 10% among women. After adjustments for age, community, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and for women, menopausal status, the multivariable-adjusted ORs for everyday snoring in the highest versus lowest quartiles of BMI categories were 3.4 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.6–4.4) for men and 3.9 (2.8–5.4) for women. The respective ORs in ≥23 g ethanol per day versus never-drinkers categories were 1.4 (1.1–1.8) and 3.1 (1.8–5.3) and those in ≥20 cigarettes versus never-smokers categories were 1.4 (1.0–1.8) and 1.9 (0.9–3.7). The associations of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking with everyday snoring were stronger for BMI<25 kg/m2 than BMI≥25 kg/m2 in both sexes.

BMI, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking were positively associated with habitual snoring for both men and women, especially in nonoverweight persons.