Predictors of objectively measured snoring in a working population

Although there have been many epidemiological studies of snoring, most did not assess snoring objectively. The aim of this study was to identify predictive factors for snoring measured objectively in a working population in Japan. We used IC recorders for the overnight tracheal sound monitoring of 191 employees of two facilities for two nights. Snoring was characterized by two variables: snoring time (%ST) as a percentage of recording time, and the mean tracheal sound energy during recording time (Leq, the equivalent sound pressure level). After excluding those with insufficient data, 172 subjects were included in the final analysis [124 men; age, 44.3 ± 9.9 years; body mass index (BMI), 22.9 ± 3.7 kg/m²]. Relationships between the two snoring variables and age, sex, BMI, drinking, smoking, and night nasal congestion were evaluated, and the predictors of snoring were identified using multiple regression analysis with %ST and Leq as the dependent variables. The mean values of %ST and Leq were 7.4 ± 7.4% and 102.1 ± 5.2 dB, respectively. Multiple regression analysis revealed that BMI (p < 0.001), night nasal congestion (p = 0.007), habitual drinking (p = 0.014) were significant predictors of %ST and that being male (p < 0.001) and BMI (p = 0.007) were significant predictors of Leq. These results suggested that being male, obesity, habitual alcohol consumption, and night nasal congestion are predictors of objectively measured snoring in a working population.