Habitual snoring. Prevalence and risk factors in a sample of the French male population

Introduction As there are important differences in the prevalence of snoring in the literature we have studied this prevalence and the risk factors in a sample of the active male population of Lorraine. Methods 850 men, aged 22 to 66 years, volunteered for the study and completed a questionnaire on the frequency of snoring, their lifestyle and their personal and family histories. The usual anthroporphic measurements were made together with a non-invasive examination of the upper airways. Results The prevalence of habitual snoring was 34.6%, increasing with age, weight and the derived indices. We identified, by logistic regression, the factors independently associated with habitual snoring in univariate analysis. These were age, weight, nocturnal nasal obstruction, a medical diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea, and hypertrophy of the soft palate and uvula. There was evidence that height had a protective effect but exercise activity did not appear to be significant. Conclusion The 35% prevalence of habitual snoring in our sample of middle aged men is similar to other studies in the literature using the same methods. The present study confirmed that age, weight, girth, nasal obstruction and nasopharyngeal abnormalities are risk factors. The protective effect of height was a new finding not identified in previous studies.