Background: Little attention has been paid to whether snoring frequency is associated with body composition in menopausal women, particularly in China. This study objected to investigate the association between self-reported snoring and body composition in (peri-post) menopausal Chinese women as well as metabolic indicators.
Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 715 participants aged 40-67 years from the Menopause Clinic in the Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital. Participants were categorized into four subgroups stratified by self-reported snoring frequency: never, rarely (< 1 night per week), occasionally (1-2 nights per week), regularly (≥3 nights per week), while body composition was measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Besides, blood sample were collected to test the glycolipid indicators.
Results: In our sample of investigation, regular snoring (≥3 nights per week) was found to be an independent risk factor for higher fat mass (total, upper limbs, trunk), with the highest risk of 2.4 times for fat mass of trunk after adjusting for metabolic confounders(p = 0.003). Meanwhile, regular snoring was independently associated with higher fat mass (total and each segment) only in menopausal transition (p = 0.023).
Conclusions: We suggested that self-reported regular snoring may be taken as a simple alternative to predict higher fat mass (≥17.11 kg, upper quartile) in menopausal women. Similarly, body composition should be attached to the great importance to those who in menopausal transition in order to help to prevent obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Keywords: Body composition; Menopausal transition; Snoring.