Prevalence of habitual snoring and sleep-disordered breathing in primary school children in Afyonkarahisar

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome affects 0.7-3% of children and snoring is an important symptom. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of habitual snoring and sleep-disordered breathing in primary school students in Afyonkarahisar city. There are 41 primary schools in uc education regions in Afyonkarahisar city. One school from each region was randomly selected and all the students in that school were given a questionnaire. Of the 1100 given questionnaires 786 (71.5%) were filled in adequately and were accepted for evaluation. Of the students 407 (51.8%) were girls and 379 (48.2%) were boys. Mean age was 9.9 +/- 2.0 (7-15). The prevalence of habitual snoring was found as 4.8%. With regard to gender, occasional snoring and habitual snoring was significantly more prevalant than never snoring in boys. The prevalence of sleep disordered breathing symptoms was found to be significantly higher in habitual snorers. Maternal and paternal smoking frequency and passive smoke exposure was more common in habitual snorers but there were no significant differences among the groups. Hyperactivity symptoms were significantly higher in habitual snorers. In our study, school performance was found to be 10.9 folds lower in habitual snorers than non-snorers. We think that questionning the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome symptoms in children and performing diagnostic procedures and treatment when suspected will decrease the morbidity.