title: Gender difference in snoring and how it changes with age: systematic review and meta-regression.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to study the interactions among age, gender, and snoring across all age groups
  
  
  METHODS
  All cross-sectional study reporting gender-specific prevalence of snoring in general population published from 1966 through July 2008 were included and were meta-analyzed. The sources of heterogeneity among primary studies were studied by meta-regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From a total of 1,593 citations reviewed, 63 were included in the analysis of snoring. These 63 studies were comprised 104,337 and 110,474, respectively. A combined odds ratio of 1.89 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.75-2.03 for male versus female was found. The heterogeneity was significant with an estimated between-study variance, τ                            (2) being 0.065 and 95% confidence interval of 0.0397-0.0941. Multiple meta-regression showed that age were the significant effect modifier of the relationship between snoring and gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study found a consistent male predominance in snoring among the general population, and the heterogeneity in the risk of snoring between two genders can be partly explained by age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Kwong Wah Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. chainsawtiney@gmail.com
authors.forename: Chung-Hong
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Billy M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Jin-Ling
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Daniel K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012737:Sex Factors; D012913:Snoring / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult