Association between self-reported snoring and hypertension among Chinese Han population aged 30–79 in Chongqing, China

Hypertension is a major risk factor for many diseases and is related to life-years lost [1, 2]. As the prevalence of hypertension is increasing in China, it introduces heavy socio-economic burden to both individuals and the health systems [3]. Hypertension control has been considered as a cost-effective way to reduce premature deaths of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in some developing countries, like Cuba [4]. Snoring is common in population [5], which is the result of increasing resistance of the upper airway during sleep. The air flow through the narrow part of the upper airway vibrates the airway wall and surrounding soft tissues, leading to a loud snoring sound. Previous epidemiological studies have demonstrated that snoring is associated with CVD [6‐8], and it was considered to be a predictor of hypertension independently of sleep apnea [9], which may play a role in the prevention and control of hypertension. However, limited attention has been paid to the association between snoring and hypertension in Southwest China. Health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and exercise have often been taken into account when exploring the risk factors of hypertension [10], while some other factors, including snoring, have been overlooked by researchers. This study investigated whether self-reported snoring was associated with hypertension in a large-scale Chinese Han population in Chongqing, China, and whether this association, if any, differ by age and gender.

Previous studies have found that frequent snoring may be positively associated with the risk of acute myocardial infarction [19] and colorectal cancer [20]. In the present study, we found that frequent snoring increased the risk of hypertension in each age and gender group. After further adjusting for the confounders, there was still a strong association between snoring and hypertension, and snoring frequency was positively correlated with the risk for hypertension.

Our findings are consistent with those from previous studies. An analysis of 580 adults [5] found an increased risk of hypertension and CVD associated with snoring, which shared views similar to our results. Sossai et al. [21] enrolled 202 subjects from Limana in 2014, and they verified the link between snoring and hypertension in their observational study. They found a significant relationship between snoring and hypertension. This may be because snoring was relevant to increased sympathetic tone and consequent arterial hypertension. Some researchers believe that snoring may reduce sleep quality [22], while poor sleep quality was related to hypertension [23] and may even increase the risk of hypertension [24]. Adrian et al. [25] believe exposure to snoring may cause larger left ventricles in one’s hearts, which makes the heart wall thicker and the heart contract harder. This may explain the association between snoring and blood pressure to some extent.

Compared with previous studies, we conducted a more detailed analysis which was stratified by age and gender. It seems that the risk decreases with age, and for the three age groups (< 45, 45–59, ≥ 60), compared with non-snoring group, those who snore often had a 64.5%, 53.3%, and 24.5% increased risk of hypertension [OR = 1.65, 95%CI (1.34–2.02); OR = 1.53, 95%CI (1.37–1.72); OR = 1.25, 95%CI (1.09~1.42)], respectively. Snoring was found to have an important effect on hypertension, particularly, in people under 45 years old. Hypertensive patients tend to be younger in recent years [26], people under 45 who snore often should not neglect the changes in their blood pressure. In this study, for men and women, those who snore often had a 46.8% and 97.2% increased risk of hypertension than the non-snoring group [OR = 1.468, 95%CI (1.33–1.63); OR = 1.97, 95%CI (1.75–2.23)], respectively. A new report [27] showed that women’s hearts were more vulnerable to snoring than men’s_. As mentioned above, snoring may have an impact on the heart and thus the blood pressure, suggesting that snoring women should pay more attention to their heart and blood pressure. Hu et al. [28] carried out a survey which enrolled 73,231 American women, after adjustment for age, BMI, WC, and other covariates, and found that snoring was still associated with higher prevalence of hypertension, as well as higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels. In addition, both theirs and our results suggested people snored more often was associated with a significantly higher risk of hypertension in women after adjustment. However, Hu et al. [28] only conducted the survey among women and only those aged 40–65 years were enrolled. In this study, our data also showed frequent snoring also increased the risk of hypertension in men before we adjusted for BMI, abdominal obesity, and dyslipidemia, although the difference between those non-snoring and occasionally snoring was not found in men after adjusting for all confounders. This implies that for men, BMI, abdominal obesity, or dyslipidemia may affect the relationship between occasionally snoring and hypertension. Besides, the difference in results of men and women indicated the necessity to stratify the results by gender. Since hypertension was probably an expression of metabolic disease, the results of the clinical indicators may have an impact on snoring, which may affect the relationship between snoring and hypertension. Zhang et al. [29] found self-reported snoring to be significantly associated with dyslipidemia, especially high TC and high LDLC. Troxel et al. [30] believe that loud snoring may indicate the development of metabolic syndrome based on their results from a prospective study with a 3-year follow-up. These results also showed the necessity of adjusting the confounding factors like clinical indicators.

In addition, our results suggested that in Chongqing, almost half of people aged 30–79 snore when they sleep, and there is a male predominance in prevalence, which has been confirmed in a previous meta-analysis [31], and Physiological differences such as the differences in upper airway anatomy, and hormonal influences may explain the gender difference. Snoring appears to be more common among smokers. Franklin et al. [32] found that even passive smoking is an underlying risk factor for snoring, and alcohol may have an immediate effect on snoring. A previous study [33] showed that physical activity may exert a protection on snoring, which suggested the importance of good lifestyles.

Snoring is regarded as a major symptom of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome. According to previous studies [27, 34, 35], the high activity of sympathetic nerve, the increase of circulating catecholamine caused by it, and the increase of vasoconstrictor sensitivity may be the mechanisms linking OSA to blood pressure. Some studies [36, 37] have suggested that vibration induced by snoring is related to repeated local Inflammation and can promote the release of interleukin-8 in the airway inflammatory cell model, which are considered to be the possible local inflammatory effects in the pathogenesis of hypertension. However, the underlying mechanisms of snoring on hypertension need further exploration.

Snoring is widely diffused in population. Previously, some studies have been carried out to investigate the relationship between snoring and hypertension in other countries [21, 38]. However, to our knowledge, this study was the first one to explore the relationship between self-reported snoring and hypertension by using the cross-sectional data of a large-scale cohort study in Chongqing, which is one of four municipalities that are located in southwest China with a population of more than 30 million [39]. Despite some previous studies have focused on the association between snoring and hypertension, limited attention has been paid to the differences between genders and age groups. Taking the influence of age and gender on the association between snoring and hypertension into consideration [40‐42], we conducted this analysis stratifying by age and sex, and we comprehensively considered the related confounders to explore the relationship between snoring and hypertension among Chinese people in this study. Different ethnic backgrounds may influence the results of the study [43]; therefore, our study only included the Han ethnicity in China, which may not be taken into account in other studies. In addition, large samples and strict quality control increased the representativeness and generalizability of our data to some extent. However, this study has several limitations. We only analyzed cross-sectional data from the cohort study; it can only explain whether self-reported snoring frequency was related to hypertension, and the casual relationship could not be examined. Further longitudinal data and specific modeling approaches are needed to determine the causal relationship between snoring and hypertension. Our study only took the subjective frequency of snoring into consideration while the frequency was not quantified and the degree of snoring was ignored, which may have an impact on the results, and future studies need to take this into account. The snoring was self-reported by participants, not measured through objective measurements, so there may be a bias between self-reported and actual snoring. However, a highly significant association between self-reported snoring and snoring objectively recorded by microphone has been found in a previous study [44], and the sensitivity and specificity were 94% and 58%, respectively, suggesting that self-reported snoring is representative despite its limitations. There was an age limit in our study population, so caution should be taken when extrapolating the results to other age groups. Besides, considering the change of hormone in women before and after menopause should be taken into account in further studies.

Frequent snoring was associated with hypertension in all age and gender groups, and people who snoring frequently should pay close attention to their blood pressure levels in order to achieve early prevention of hypertension, especially for snorers under the age of 45 and snoring women; importance should be attached to their blood pressure control.