One in 10 children snores regularly, and girls and boys display different risk factors for snoring.

That finding appears in the September issue of Chest.

Parents of 1,144 third graders in Germany and Austria were asked to fill out questionnaires about their children. The results indicated that independent risk factors for habitual snoring among children included low maternal education, regular daytime mouth breathing, a higher frequency of sore throats and a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to the 90th percentile.

But some of these independent risk factors were more important, depending on gender. Girls who frequently complained of sore throats were five times more likely than boys to be at risk for habitual snoring. For boys, lower maternal education and household smoking of more than 10 cigarettes a day were significantly linked with snoring.

As boys grew older, they became less likely to snore, while older girls were more likely to snore.

Obesity was significantly linked with snoring in both girls and boys. Nearly one in four obese children snored. Children with a BMI in the 90th percentile were four times more likely to snore than those with a BMI below the 75th percentile, the study found.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about snoring.

Reference Source 101
September 15, 2004

For more information on how to prevent other diseases, use
PreventDisease.com's "Quick Prevention Resources".