Infectious Disease

Adolescents who snore have more severe symptoms of depression, suicidality

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According to a survey conducted in South Korea, snoring in adolescents correlated significantly with depressive symptoms and suicidality, regardless of length of sleep, insomnia and daytime sleepiness.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate whether self-reported symptoms of snoring in adolescents are related to depressive symptoms or suicidality,” Hyunwoo Jeong, MRS, of the Geumsan-gun Public Health Center in South Korea, and colleagues wrote.

The content of the infographic was adapted from Jeong H, et al. J Psychiatrist Res. 2021; doi: 10.1016 / j.jpsychires.2021.05.076.

They added, “The results of the study underscore the need to pay attention to self-reported complaints about snoring in adolescents in order to improve their mental well-being.”

Jeong and colleagues investigated the association between snoring and depressive symptoms and suicidality in adolescents by examining the responses of 8,080 students about their sleep patterns, depressive symptoms, suicidality, frequency of snoring, daytime sleepiness and insomnia. Participants completed the Korean versions of Beck’s 19 Items Scale for Suicide Ideation, 21 Items Beck Depression Inventory and modified 7 items of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. They assessed associations by performing correlation, multiple linear regression, and mediation analyzes.

Participants asked: “How many nights per week do you snore on average?” “How many hours do you sleep on average on weekdays?” “How often have you woken up frequently in the last month after falling asleep?” And “How often are you in woke up early last month and couldn’t get back to sleep? “

Male participants reported less severe depressive symptoms and less suicidality despite more frequent snoring. The frequency of snoring also correlated positively with depressive symptoms and suicidality as well as the duration of sleep (P = .02) and daytime sleepiness (P <.001). The association remained consistent even after adjusting for sleep duration, insomnia, and daytime sleepiness. When they included depressive symptoms as a predictor of suicidality, Jeong and colleagues found that the frequency of snoring no longer had a significant predictive value. They also confirmed that depressive symptoms mediated the link between snoring frequency and suicidality.

The researchers identified several limitations that could affect the accuracy of their results, such as the relatively small study size, reliance on self-reported data, and interviewing only Korean adolescents.

“Our results suggest that self-reported complaints about snoring in adolescents, regardless of length of sleep, insomnia and daytime sleepiness, are associated with increased depressive symptoms and suicidality, and that the connection between snoring and suicidality is mediated by depressive symptoms,” wrote Jeong and colleagues. “These data underscore the importance of identifying snorers in adolescents and screening for depression and suicidal ideation in this population.”

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