Snoring is a common disorder and may lead to the development of Obstructive
Sleep Apnoea (OSA) with its associated hazards. Differentiation of patient
s with OSA from patients with simple snoring is crucial to the ENT surgeon
before selecting treatment. This study aimed to assess the reliability of t
he Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) to screen for OSA among snorers. Forty-si
x patients referred for treatment of snoring were studied. Each patient com
pleted the ESS questionnaire and subsequently underwent a hospital sleep st
udy. The ESS scores did not correlate with the apnoea/hypopnoea indices cal
culated from the sleep studies (correlation coefficient 0.12). The lack of
correlation is mainly because simple snorers can also suffer from excessive
daytime sleepiness, due to an unclear mechanism. The ESS is a useful quest
ionnaire for assessing disability as a result of snoring but it is of no va
lue in distinguishing simple snorers from patients with OSA.