Prevalence and Associated Factors of Snoring in School-Aged Children

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: We studied the prevalence of snoring and its association with diseases, obesity and environmental factors, as well as sleep disturbance arising from snoring, in school-aged children. METHODS: The survey was performed by a special questionnaire on 1,707 children at elementary schools from 1 to 30 July 2001 in Gwangju City. The prevalence of snoring, associated factors, and sleep disturbance were evaluated. RESULTS: 266(16.5%) of the children snored at least once a week. 73(4.3%) of the children snored almost every day. Regarding the associated factors of snoring There was a statistically significant difference between snoring and nonsnoring groups due to gender, obesity, sinusitis, tonsillar hypertrophy, bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis. Of them, male gender, tonsillar hypertrophy, and obesity were significant risk factors for development of snoring. Especially, the odds ratio increased to 1.048(CI, 1.004-1.659), 1.748(CI, 1.175-2.599), and 2.266(CI, 1.300-3.950) in children with an obesity index of 20-29%, 30-49%, >or=50%, respectively. There was a statistically significant association of snoring with decreased sleep duration, sleep talking, and drowsiness during the day as a result of sleep disturbance. CONCLUSION: 16.5% of school-aged children snored at least once a week. The association of snoring with tonsillar hypertrophy, obesity and gender as risk factors was demonstrated in this study.