Daytime sleepiness, snoring and gastro‐oesophageal reflux amongst young adults in three European countries

OBJECTIVES: To study the geographical variation in daytime sleepiness, snoring and disrupted breathing during sleep and to identify and compare risk factors using the same method in four European cities. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, multicentre epidemiological survey. SETTING: Reykjavik in Iceland, Uppsala and Göteborg in Sweden and Antwerp in Belgium. PARTICIPANTS: A random population sample of 2202 subjects who participated in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sleep disturbances and daytime symptoms. RESULTS: At all the centres, 5% of the men and 2-3% of the women reported snoring every night. Daytime sleepiness (DS) was more often reported in Uppsala odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval: 1.6 (1.2-2.1) than in the other centres, whilst daytime tiredness (DT) was most common in Reykjavik OR 1.8 (1.4-2.1). Snoring was positively correlated with age, male gender and body-mass index in all areas. Symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux were associated with DS: OR 2.6 (1.5 4.4) and DT: OR 4.5 (2.7-7.6) and disrupted breathing: OR 3.8 (1.4-10). DS and DT were reported more often by women than by men. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of snoring was about the same in all four areas, whilst there was a geographical variation in daytime sleepiness and tiredness. As complaints of DS and DT and disrupted breathing were more common in subjects who reported symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux, we suggest that polysomnographic studies comparing sleep patterns in adult patients with and without reflux should be conducted.