A community study of snoring and sleep-disordered breathing. Prevalence.

We conducted a study of the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in subjects derived from a random sample of the population. A total of 2,202 subjects 35 to 69 yr of age were approached. Four hundred forty-one answered a questionnaire concerning their sleep symptoms, general health, and habits such as alcohol consumption, and they were monitored for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The sample was biased in favor of snorers and those with other subjective sleep complaints. Fifty-six percent of the subjects were men. Of the 441 subjects 79 (17.9%) had SDB (more than 15 episodes of apnea or hypopnea per hour: respiratory distress index [RDI] > or = 15), 289 were snorers but had RDI < 15, and 73 were nonsnorers. The prevalence of SDB in this sample was therefore at least 3.6% (79 of 2,204). The minimum prevalence in men was 5.7%, and in women it was 1.2%. Logistic regression identified only male sex as an independent predictor of snoring without SDB (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 3.24; 95% CI, 1.33 to 7.82),...