SNORING IN TWINS

Snoring is a prerequisite for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and is kn own to run in families. Recent studies have provided sufficient eviden ce for a familial predisposition to OSA. In our study, 492 monozygotic and 284 dizygotic twins were contacted by telephone and asked to atte nd an interview which included questions of life habits, medical histo ry, sleep habits and disorders, with particular emphasis on snoring. O ur study showed that the probandwise concordance rate for habitual sno ring was higher in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic ones, but the d ifference was not significant. The comparison of concordant pairs for habitual snoring vs. concordant pairs for non-snoring confirmed that h abitual snoring is significantly associated with older age, male gende r, higher body mass index (BMI), smoking and respiratory diseases. The multivariate analysis in the discordant groups confirmed that BMI is more strongly associated to habitual snoring in dizygotic twins than i n the monozygotic ones. Our logistic analysis showed that other variab les, such as smoking and respiratory diseases, are associated with hab itual snoring in dizygotic pairs, but not in monozygotic ones. These f indings suggest a genetic predisposition to habitual snoring.