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Sleep and Breathing
Published in: Sleep and Breathing 4/2012

01-12-2012 | Review

Gender difference in snoring and how it changes with age: systematic review and meta-regression

Authors: Chung-hong Chan, Billy M. Wong, Jin-ling Tang, Daniel K. Ng

Published in: Sleep and Breathing | Issue 4/2012

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Abstract

Purpose

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.

Conclusion

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.
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Metadata
Title
Gender difference in snoring and how it changes with age: systematic review and meta-regression
Authors
Chung-hong Chan
Billy M. Wong
Jin-ling Tang
Daniel K. Ng
Publication date
01-12-2012
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Sleep and Breathing / Issue 4/2012
Print ISSN: 1520-9512
Electronic ISSN: 1522-1709
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-011-0596-8

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