Among women, those in their 50s and those with higher BMI (body mass index) are most likely to document habitual snoring, researchers document in the journal Chest.

Middle-aged, heavy women may be more likely to snore — or at least, to admit it.

The researchers — who work at Sweden’s Uppsala University — studied snoring because habitual snoring is a major symptom of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In people with OSA, breathing stops momentarily during sleep.

The finding comes from a study of about 6,800 women living in Uppsala, Sweden. The women, who were at least 20 years old, took surveys about snoring, age, weight, height, waist and neck circumference, smoking, hormonal status, and alcohol use.

Snoring Study
Malin Svensson, MD, and colleagues mailed surveys to over 10,000 women. Each woman also got a tape measure to measure their neck and waist.

Untreated obstructive sleep apnea is potentially life-threatening and increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. However, snoring is usually not a serious problem.

Less than 3% of women in their 20s reported habitual snoring. Women age 60 and older were less likely to document habitual snoring than women in their 50s, the study shows.

The surveys, which included 109 questions, showed that 8% of the women reported being habitual snorers. That percentage peaked at 14% among women in their 50s.

“The prevalence of self-reported habitual snoring was strongly dependent on age and BMI,” Svensson’s team writes.

The researchers also calculated the women’s BMI, based on self-reported height and weight. They found that women with high BMI were more likely to document being habitual snorers.

Alcohol, Inactivity
Experts already know that drinking alcohol and being fat can boost snoring risk. Svensson’s study adds more detail to those factors in women.

For instance, very lean women (BMI less than 20) were more likely to document being habitual snorers if they were dependent on alcohol. Two questions on the survey gauged alcohol dependence.

Overweight women (BMI of at least 30) were more likely to document habitual snoring if they also reported getting small physical activity in their leisure time. The influence of alcohol dependence faded as women’s BMI rose, the study shows.

Few women in the study had low BMIs, so the researchers suggest using caution in interpreting those findings.

Fib Factor
Some of the women may not have known — or admitted — that they were habitual snorers. The researchers didn’t check the women’s self-reported snoring habits.

 a third of the women said they didn’t share their bedroom. No one may have told them that they snored. But those women’s self-reported habitual snoring and BMI were similar to other women in the study who did have shared bedrooms, the researchers write.