ABSTRACT
Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and lower socio-professional status have in common a series of risk factors for ill health such as sedentary lifestyle, weight excess, heavy alcohol and tobacco consumption. We hypothesised that SDB will be more prevalent in lower socio-professional groups. A total of 496 male middle aged subjects (23-66 years) were tested with a protocol including a self-completed structured sleep questionnaire (translation of the Madison sleep cohort study form), anthropometry (including neck, waist and hip girth) and a simple, non-invasive nose-throat examination by a specialist physician. The subjects were classified according to the 10 major groups of the ISCO-88 classification (International Labour Office). Our sampling base did not contain subjects in the major groups 1 (senior officials, legislators), 6 (fishery and agricultural workers), and zero (armed forces), thus these groups were not represented in the analysis. To improve the power of the statistical analysis, groups 3 and 4, 5 and 7, 8 and 9 were merged, the analysis thus including four categories. The differences in demographic data were negligible; as expected, smoking was more prevalent in low socio-occupational groups (difference non-significant). A history of chronic bronchitis was more frequent in low socio-occupational groups, while a low physical job labour was more frequent in higher occupational groups. We did not find any differences in the prevalence of sleep-related respiratory disturbances (snoring, sleep apnoeas). This first study of the possible association between socio-occupational factors and sleep disordered breathing was negative, but we believe further studies, on larger samples, with a more homogeneous distribution of social groups are warranted.
Subject(s)
Occupational Diseases/epidemiology , Sleep Apnea Syndromes/epidemiology , Adult , France , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , PrevalenceABSTRACT
The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) was evaluated in a male population sample of Lorraine (university staff), with a protocol including a self-completed standardized questionnaire, anthropometry (including neck, waist and hip circumferences) and non-invasive ear, nose, and throat examination. Among 357 subjects present in the institution at the moment of the survey, 334 (93.6%) accepted to participate, and 300 (84%) returned the questionnaires. The anthropometric results corresponded to the French normative values according to gender and age. We chose a value of 32 as limit of the body mass index (BMI) between weight excess and obesity; this limit was exceeded by 7.2% of the subjects. The mean age of the sample was 44.8 (SD 10.1) years; the waist-to-hip ratio was of 0.907 +/- 0.053. The ENT examination found a high prevalence of nasal septum deviations (52.6%), of soft palate (25.2%), and uvula (42%) abnormalities; 32.1% of the subjects had experienced amygdalectomy. The non-responses to the questionnaire were infrequent (less than 2%), except for the questions regarding a history of hypertension (2.6%), weight fluctuations the last 5 years (7.6%), and the number of years in school (12%). The questionnaire included, for each question, the optional answer "don't know"; this answer was chosen for the questions concerning the duration of snoring (37.1%), stopping breathing during sleep (12.7%) and the parental history of narcolepsy (18.7 and 20.7%) and sleep apnoea (33.7 and 36.4%). 5.7% of the subjects declared sleep apnoeas at least once per week: 16.1% had unrefreshing sleep; 10.6% admitted to excessive daytime sleepiness; 41.9% were habitual snorers. These results indicate a prevalence of SDB in our sample which is comparable to the figures obtained in other European studies. Further analysis of our data will indicate if, besides weight excess and its troncular distribution, cigarette smoking and respiratory symptoms, the "minor" ENT abnormalities play a role in the pathogenesis of SDB.
