title: Occupational status and sleep-disordered breathing in a sample of French males.
abstract: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and lower socio-professional status have in common a series of risk factors for ill health such as sedentary lifestyle, weight excess, heavy alcohol and tobacco consumption. We hypothesised that SDB will be more prevalent in lower socio-professional groups. A total of 496 male middle aged subjects (23-66 years) were tested with a protocol including a self-completed structured sleep questionnaire (translation of the Madison sleep cohort study form), anthropometry (including neck, waist and hip girth) and a simple, non-invasive nose-throat examination by a specialist physician. The subjects were classified according to the 10 major groups of the ISCO-88 classification (International Labour Office). Our sampling base did not contain subjects in the major groups 1 (senior officials, legislators), 6 (fishery and agricultural workers), and zero (armed forces), thus these groups were not represented in the analysis. To improve the power of the statistical analysis, groups 3 and 4, 5 and 7, 8 and 9 were merged, the analysis thus including four categories. The differences in demographic data were negligible; as expected, smoking was more prevalent in low socio-occupational groups (difference non-significant). A history of chronic bronchitis was more frequent in low socio-occupational groups, while a low physical job labour was more frequent in higher occupational groups. We did not find any differences in the prevalence of sleep-related respiratory disturbances (snoring, sleep apnoeas). This first study of the possible association between socio-occupational factors and sleep disordered breathing was negative, but we believe further studies, on larger samples, with a more homogeneous distribution of social groups are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Occupational and Preventive Medicine Service, Henri Poincaré University, Nancy, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mayeux
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Teculescu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Montaut-Verient
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Virion
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Michaely
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hannhart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology*