The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) symptoms was explored in a community sample of 823 New Zealand 3-year-olds. Parents completed questionnaires exploring factors relevant to their children’s sleep, with a particular focus on snoring. Snoring was reported as occurring at least once a week in 36.9% of children and habitually (>4 nights per week) in 11.3%. In univariate analysis, factors associated with habitual snoring included Māori ethnicity (p=0.04), male gender (p=0.05) and more socioeconomically deprived neighbourhoods (p<0.01). Several other SDB-related symptoms were significantly associated with habitual snoring: mouth breathing, sweating profusely, waking during the night, sleeping with neck extended, constant runny nose, and suffering from tonsillitis. In multivariate analysis, snoring was strongly and positively associated with various health and familial factors, as well as parent-reported child irritability (OR 2.83) and hyperactivity (OR 1.6).
