Prevalence and Correlates of Snoring in Adolescents

Snoring can occur alone or it may be the presenting feature of obstructive sleep apneaand other common chronic conditions. in our study, we aimed to estimate the prevalenceand correlates of snoring in adolescent students in tehran, iran.a cross-sectional study was designed and students were selected from 20 secondary andhigh schools, in 5 different zones in tehran in order to have a representative sample of theadolescent population.a total of 2900 students (1200 male and 1700 female students) 11-17 year-old who wereattending secondary and high schools were investigated. information was collected via astructured face-to-face interview, based on a questionnaire. in addition to snoring, nocturnalcough, asthma-related symptoms, and daytime symptoms were also questioned. bmi wasmeasured by two trained physicians. the prevalence of snoring was 7.9(1'0 (4.8% in girls and12.4% in boys). the prevalence of snoring was significantly higher among males (p< 0.05).snoring was positively associated with asthma and nocturnal cough. overweight/obeseadolescents had significantly higher rates of snoring and asthma symptoms. prevalence ofdaytime symptoms increased significantly in the snoring group.these results suggest that snoring is associated with multiple factors in adolescents. 'veconclude that the prevalence of snoring is relatively high in children of this region. thishighlights the need for awareness among physicians about the problem of sleep-disorderedbreathing, especially in children with asthma and obesity, and also the need for furtherstudies to measure the prevalence of sleep breathing disorders among iranians.