Epidemiology of snoring and its consequences.

Much has been written about snoring and its affects on health, in particular its possible influence on cardiovascular disease. However, there are many assumptions made when linking the report of snoring to any consequences such as hypertension, heart disease or stroke. In particular it is not clear how snoring might influence the cardiovascular system, whether subjective reports of snoring are accurate, and snoring might only be acting as a marker for some common risk factor such as upper body obesity; a particular risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and through neck circumference, snoring. There is much better evidence that snoring is an important cause of sleepiness, even in the absence of conventional sleep apnoea.