Five-year study is wake-up call to child snoring problem

Obese boys are more prone to habitual snoring than other children, a five-year study reveals.

The paediatric department of Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei conducted a phone survey with parents of 3,047 children in 2002 to understand the prevalence of sleep symptoms among local primary school pupils.

A similar follow-up survey was conducted five years later when the students had reached puberty. In 2007, researchers managed to interview 2,005 of the students involved in the first survey.

They found that 12.7 per cent of respondents, or 254 teenagers, were habitual snorers, meaning they snored on at least six nights a week.

About 40.6 per cent of pupils suffered from habitual snoring in both studies, while 7.1 per cent of children became habitual snorers when they moved to secondary school.

Dr Daniel Ng Kwok-keung, head of paediatrics at Kwong Wah Hospital, said male gender and a body mass index over 30 were factors leading to persistent and incidental habitual snoring.