title: Snoring and nocturnal oxygen desaturations in an Italian middle-aged male population. Epidemiologic study with an ambulatory device.
abstract: Recent studies have suggested that portable monitoring may be a valid means of finding respiratory disturbances in epidemiologic research on a large scale. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate by means of an appropriately validated portable instrument (MESAM 4) the nocturnal oxygen desaturations in a representative sample of adult male population in North Italy. We randomly chose 750 subjects: 399 subjects (53.2 percent) agreed to participate and a complete evaluation of nocturnal recording was possible in 349 subjects (87.5 percent). Seventeen percent of subjects were every-night snorers; a number of oxygen desaturations per hour (ODI) > 10 was found in 13.7 percent, and an ODI > 20 resulted in 4.8 percent. Age, neck circumference corrected for height, snoring time (measured by MESAM), and self-reported snoring were the variables best explaining ODI in our multivariate approach. This study reports the highest prevalence, using nocturnal oxygen desaturation indices as marker, of sleep-disordered breathing than any reported until now in a general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, State University and Istituto Scientifico, H San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferini-Strambi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zucconi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Palazzi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Castronovo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oldani
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Della Marca
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smirne
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009333:Neck / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015995:Prevalence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012913:Snoring / Q000453:epidemiology*