Dampness and mold at home and at work and onset of insomnia symptoms, snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness

Juan Wang,Christer Janson,Eva Lindberg,Mathias Holm,Thorarinn Gislason,Bryndís Benediktsdóttir,Ane Johannessen,Vivi Schlünssen,Rain Jogi,Karl A Franklin,Dan Norbäck

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.105691

Abstract

AimTo investigate whether exposure to dampness and mold at home and at work induce sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness among adults. Materials and methodsAssociations between onset of sleep disturbances and dampness, mold and mold odor at home and at work were investigated in a cohort of 11,318 adults from the population in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. The participants answered a questionnaire at baseline and 10 years later, with questions on sleep disturbances, including difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), early morning awakening (EMA), insomnia symptoms, snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS). Multiple logistic regression models were applied to estimate associations adjusting for potential confounders including gender, age, smoking habit at baseline, change of smoking habit from baseline to follow up, BMI at baseline, change of BMI from baseline to follow up, education level at follow up, allergic rhinitis at baseline, doctor diagnosed asthma at baseline and chronic bronchitis at baseline. ResultsBaseline floor dampness, visible mold and mold odor at home increased onset of DIS, DMS, EMA, insomnia symptoms and snoring during follow up (OR 1.29–1.87). Any sign of dampness at baseline increased onset of DIS (OR 1.28, 95%CI 1.06–1.55), DMS (OR 1.17, 95%CI 1.02–1.34) and insomnia symptoms (OR 1.18, 95%CI 1.03–1.36). Dampness at home during follow up increased onset of DIS, DMS, EMA, insomnia symptoms and EDS (OR 1.17–1.36). Dampness at work during follow up increased onset of DIS, EMA, insomnia symptoms and EDS (OR 1.16–1.34). Combined dampness at home and at work during follow up increased the risk of onset of DIS, DMS, EMA, insomnia symptoms and EDS (OR 1.29–1.74). ConclusionsDampness and mold at home and at work can increase the development of insomnia symptoms, snoring and EDS among adults.

Highlights

A good night sleep is critical for health and wellbeing
One review concluded that about one third of the general population suffer from at least one insomnia symptom (Ohayon, 2002) and recent studies have reported that 6–16% of the population in European countries have been diagnosed with insomnia (Riemann et al, 2017)
Our study found that floor dampness was related to higher onset of Difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), Difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), Early morning awakening (EMA) and insomnia symptoms

Summary

Introduction

A good night sleep is critical for health and wellbeing. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. Most studies have focused on three forms of insomnia symptoms: difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep and early morning awakening (Buysse, 2013). Environment International 139 (2020) 105691 apnea (OSA), characterised by loud habitual snoring and breathing pauses during sleep, is a worldwide highly prevalent disease with arousals during sleep followed by excessive daytime sleepiness, impairment of neurocognitive function and reduced daytime performance (Marin-Oto et al, 2019; Gislason et al, 2016; Franklin and Lindberg, 2015). Previous studies indicate that women suffer more often from insomnia but men suffer more often from OSA (Ohayon, 2002; Franklin and Lindberg, 2015; Bartlett et al, 2008)

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