Background: Snoring is an important symptom that is associated with obstructive sleep apnea and increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. In Thailand, the prevalence of snoring during pregnancy is uncertain. Determining the prevalence and characteristics may reduce the prevalence of snoring and improve pregnancy outcomes.

Objective: The primary outcome was to determine the prevalence of snoring in Thai pregnant women in the third trimester, including pregnancy and chronic onset. The secondary outcome was to investigate the associations between pregnancy outcome and habitual snorer or those identified as high risk by the Thai Berlin Questionnaire.

Materials and Methods: Three hundred eighty-two singleton pregnant women aged at least 18 years and at least 33 weeks of gestational age were recruited from the antenatal care clinic at Vajira Hospital, Navamindradhiraj University, between November 2021 and September 2022 and filled out the Thai Berlin Questionnaire. The 382 pregnant women were identified the presence of snoring or high risk of OSA in the previous month. Medical records, including demographic information and pregnancy outcomes, were collected, and analyzed.

Results: The prevalence of snoring was 31.4% in the third trimester of pregnancy of which 27% were pregnancy onset snoring and 4.4% were chronic onset snoring. Habitual snoring was significantly different from non-snoring in regard to the requirement for positive-pressure ventilation in newborns (aOR 6.67, 95% CI 1.2 to 35.54). The high risk group had significantly more pregnancy induced hypertension than the low risk group (aOR 5.96, 95% CI 2.15 to 16.5), gestational hypertension (aOR 13.6, 95% CI 2.1 to 86.8), preeclampsia (aOR 4.07, 95% CI 1.09 to 15.2), severe preeclampsia (aOR 4.9, 95% CI 1.15 to 20.93), preterm birth (aOR 6.21, 95% CI 1.58 to 24.42), and low birth weight of newborn (aOR 6.09, 95% CI 2.5 to 14.87).

Conclusion: The prevalence of snoring among Thai pregnant women was comparable to previous Western studies. Screening pregnant women at risk of the symptom may provide an early chance to lower the prevalence of snoring and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Keywords: Snoring; Snoring in pregnancy; Pregnancy outcomes

DOI: 10.35755/jmedassocthai.2023.07.13869

Received 31 October 2022 | Revised 7 May 2023 | Accepted 8 May 2023