Joint effects of body mass index, exercise, and alcohol drinking on the development of snoring

Obesity is consistently reported to have a positive association with the development of habitual snoring. Whether lifestyle factors modify the association between body weight and the future risk of snoring has not been examined. In a prospective cohort study, we evaluated the association of lifestyle factors and body mass index (BMI) with the development of snoring. The study population (497 men and 670 women aged 40–69 years) were drawn from an ongoing population-based cohort. At baseline, all participants were free of cardiovascular disease and snoring at night. Information on lifestyle factors and snoring frequencies was obtained from interviewer-based questionnaires. During the 4-year follow-up, 533 participants reported new onset snoring. After adjusting for age, sex, and other potential risk factors, overweight persons with a BMI of _25 kg/m2 were found to have a 48% excess (95% confidence interval, 10% to 100%) in the odds of developing snoring compared with those with a BMI of ?23 kg/m2. In particular, we found that alcohol drinking and frequent exercise modify the association between BMI and the development of snoring; alcohol drinkers showed a stronger association than abstainers and persons who did not frequently exercise showed a stronger association than those exercising 4 days per week. We observed that even overweight persons who drink alcohol or do not exercise frequently had a higher chance of becoming snorers. Further evaluations are warranted to confirm whether abstaining from alcohol and frequent exercise can help prevent future snoring.