SNORING, NIGHTMARES, AND MORNING HEADACHES IN ELDERLY WOMEN - A PRELIMINARY-STUDY

Self-reported snoring in 37 females aged 65-94 years was assessed and the relationships between snoring and sleep characteristics, respirato ry events, depression scores, sleep complaints and self-reported healt h problems were investigated. Sleep was recorded for two 24-h periods in the home on successive weeks, using the Home Monitoring System. Sno ring was positively correlated with the frequency of nightmares and mo rning headaches; and nightmares and morning headaches were significant ly correlated. Snoring was also significantly and positively correlate d with the number of brief wakings during sleep, and was positively co rrelated with weight. While these relationships are ones that have pre viously indicated risk status, snoring was not related to respiratory events, sleep complaints, or other health problems. Snoring, nightmare s and headaches each showed a significant, negative correlation with a ge, but this is a finding that cannot be readily interpreted from a cr oss-sectional study. Replication of this study with a larger sample, s tudied longitudinally, is required to confirm a significance of the sn oring/nightmares/headaches constellation for aging women. (C) 1997 Els evier Science B.V.