Abstract
BackgroundSnoring is frequently associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Previous studies have shown that bone mineral density was significantly lower in patients with OSA than in controls; however, these studies did not focus on fractures. Fragility fractures can lead to long-term disabilities and a decrease in quality of life. The present study aimed to investigate the association between snoring and fragility fractures.MethodsThis study included 2969 men and 3220 women aged 40 years and older from the Ansung and Ansan cohort studies in Korea. During a 10-year follow-up period, 129 and 273 fracture cases were reported in men and women, respectively.ResultsSevere snoring (6–7 nights per week or sleep disturbance by snoring in the next room) was a statistically significant risk factor for fracture (p = 0.006, hazard ratio 1.68, 95% confidence interval 1.16–2.43) after adjusting for covariates related to fragility fracture in women. However, both snoring and severe snoring groups did not show significant associations with the fracture risk in men.ConclusionsThus, information on the frequency of snoring in women may improve the accuracy of fragility fracture risk prediction, which can help in deciding whether intervention or treatment is necessary.
Highlights
Snoring is frequently associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
We expect that collecting information about snoring may be an inexpensive and simple approach to help increase the accuracy of the prediction of fragility fracture events
This study showed that snoring was significantly associated with fragility fractures in women aged 40 years and older
Summary
Previous studies have shown that bone mineral density was significantly lower in patients with OSA than in controls; these studies did not focus on fractures. Fragility fractures can lead to long-term disabilities and a decrease in quality of life. Screening for low bone mineral density (BMD) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is an accepted strategy to identify people with an elevated risk of fragility fracture. Previous studies have reported on the risk of osteoporosis in patients with OSA. A previous retrospective study of 66 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients found that lumbar spine BMD was significantly lower in COPD patients with OSA than in COPD patients without OSA [6]. A 6year retrospective cohort study of 1377 OSA patients and 20,655 matched controls found that the risk of osteoporosis was 2.52-fold higher in the OSA patients than in the matched controls [7]. A 10-year retrospective cohort study of 846 OSA patients and a
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