For release: March 12, 1999
Contact: Kimberly Lynch, ACCP
(847) 498-8341
OVERWEIGHT MALES LOUDEST SNORERS
A 14-year study confirmed today what many women have felt they knew for years: men snore louder than women. The study also reaffirmed that the heavier you are, the louder you snore. Twelve percent of 1,139 study participants snored loud enough to exceed the maximum acceptable levels for nighttime noises set by a pollution control agency.
The study results are reported in the March issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). Kent Wilson, M.D., Department of Otolaryngology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, together with six associates, reported data from their systematic investigation of snoring sound levels during sleep testing. The researchers also explored the relationship between snoring sound intensity and a variety of demographic and clinical factors.
According to the researchers, men were significantly louder snorers than women. Snoring sound intensity also increased as body weight rose. Seventy-eight percent of those involved in the study were male.
In their results, the investigators point out that the regulations of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency limit the maximum acceptable outdoor nighttime noise level to 55 decibels, a level which was exceeded by over 12 percent of the snorers during this research.
Additional study results showed that almost 85 percent of the snorers exceeded 38 decibels of sound, which is the equivalent to the noise of light highway traffic.
The noisy breathing of snoring is produced by vibrations in the soft palateˆthe structure at the rear of the mouth and roof of the nasal cavity consisting of a flap of muscle and fibrous tissue. Snoring is a well known risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea and upper airway resistance syndrome.
The study population, which had an average age of 48, weighed substantially more than the U.S. average. Of the 654 patients with known height and weight, the average patient"šs weight was slightly over 225 pounds, at a height of five feet eight inches. The study group"šs average body mass index (BMI) was 34.2 as compared to 25.5 kg/m2, the U.S. adult average. Approximately 62 percent of the patients were considered obese.
The tests were conducted in a special quiet room in the sleep laboratory with microphones suspended 24 inches above the surface of the patient"šs bed. This approach offered a noninvasive recording technique with a standardized distance that approximates the space between two sleeping partners.
Dr. Wilson said that the patients who were referred to the center with breathing stoppage as their chief complaint had significantly higher snoring sound intensity levels. However, most of the loud snoring was connected with being overweight and male. The researchers did not find a strong relationship between age and snoring sound intensity. They were also unable to show a relationship between more intense snoring sounds and a clinical history of hypertension.
"Prior to this study," said Dr. Wilson. "many questions about the clinical significance of snoring were unanswered, largely because of the lack of standardized procedures for measuring snoring sounds. The measurement methodology used in our study has provided accurate and consistent information on snoring sound intensity."
CHEST is published by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), which represents 15,000 members who provide clinical, respiratory, and cardiothoracic patient care in the U.S. and throughout the world.
_____________________________________
Reporters may wish to contact Kimberly Lynch of the ACCP at (847) 498-8341 for a full copy of the article. She can also be reached by fax at (847) 498-5460. The table of contents and the abstracts of all articles appearing in the March issue of CHEST are available on the ACCP web site at Dr. Wilson of the University of Minnesota can be reached by phone at (612) 232-5853.
###
RSS