Early life environment and snoring in adulthood

Karl A Franklin,Birger N Laerum,Ernst Omenaas,Eva Lindberg,Maria Gunnbjörnsdottir,Eva Norrman,Christer Janson,Kjell Torén,Lennarth Nyström,Cecilie Svanes,Amund Gulsvik,Thórarinn Gíslason

doi:10.1186/1465-9921-9-63

Abstract

BackgroundTo our knowledge, no studies of the possible association of early life environment with snoring in adulthood have been published. We aimed to investigate whether early life environment is associated with snoring later in life.MethodsA questionnaire including snoring frequency in adulthood and environmental factors in early life was obtained from 16,190 randomly selected men and women, aged 25–54 years, in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Estonia (response rate 74%).ResultsA total of 15,556 subjects answered the questions on snoring. Habitual snoring, defined as loud and disturbing snoring at least 3 nights a week, was reported by 18%. Being hospitalized for a respiratory infection before the age of two years (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.27; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01–1.59), suffering from recurrent otitis as a child (OR = 1.18; 95%CI 1.05–1.33), growing up in a large family (OR = 1.04; 95%CI 1.002–1.07) and being exposed to a dog at home as a newborn (OR = 1.26; 95%CI 1.12–1.42) were independently related to snoring later in life and independent of a number of possible confounders in adulthood. The same childhood environmental factors except household size were also related with snoring and daytime sleepiness combined.ConclusionThe predisposition for adult snoring may be partly established early in life. Having had severe airway infections or recurrent otitis in childhood, being exposed to a dog as a newborn and growing up in a large family are environmental factors associated with snoring in adulthood.

Highlights

To our knowledge, no studies of the possible association of early life environment with snoring in adulthood have been published
Snoring subjects came from homes with lower parental education, larger household size and more pets when newborn, they had more often been hospitalized for respiratory infection before the age of 2 years, and they had more often had recurrent otitis in childhood (Table 3)
The associations of childhood factors with adult snoring when adjusting for potential confounding factors are presented in table 4

Summary

Introduction

No studies of the possible association of early life environment with snoring in adulthood have been published. We aimed to investigate whether early life environment is associated with snoring later in life. About 16% of middle-aged men and 7% of women snore habitually [1,2]. They suffer from daytime sleepiness and run an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases [3,4,5,6]. Snoring and daytime sleepiness are symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea. Mandibular retrognathia and narrowing of the lateral pharyngeal area reduce the upper airway size, with snoring and sleep apnea as a result in adults [11,12,13]. Age, smoking and chronic bronchitis are other risk factors for snoring among adults [14,15]

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