SNORING AND SLEEP-APNEA - A POPULATION STUDY IN AUSTRALIAN MEN

Snoring and sleeping apnea are reportedly associated with morbidity. W e used home monitoring (MESAM IV) to measure snoring and sleep apnea i n 294 men aged 40 to 65 yr from the volunteer register of the Busselto n (Australia) Health Survey. In this group, 81% snored for more than 1 0% of the night and 22% for more than half the night; 26% had a respir atory disturbance index (RDI) greater than or equal to 5, and 10% had an RDI greater than or equal to 10. There was a relatively low correla tion between percentage of night spent snoring and RDI(rho = 0.47, p < 0.005). Subjective daytime sleepiness plus RDI greater than or equal to 5 occurred in a minimum of 3%. Obesity was related to snoring, RDI, and minimum Sa(O2) (all p < 0.0001). There was no relationship betwee n age and either RDI or snoring, but increased age was related to mini mum Sa(O2) < 85% (p < 0.05). Alcohol consumption was not related to sl eep-disordered breathing. Smokers snored for a greater percentage of t he night than nonsmokers (41 versus 31%, p = 0.01). We conclude that, in middle-aged men, both snoring and sleep apnea are extremely common, and in this age range both are associated with obesity but not with a ge. However, a high percentage of snoring is not essential for the occ urrence of sleep apnea, nor does it necessarily indicate that apnea is present.