Early life environment and snoring in adulthood.
BACKGROUND
To 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.


METHODS
A 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%).


RESULTS
A 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.


CONCLUSIONS
The 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.
Franklin
Karl A
KA
Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden. karl.franklin@lung.umu.se
Janson
Christer
C
Gíslason
Thórarinn
T
Gulsvik
Amund
A
Gunnbjörnsdottir
Maria
M
Laerum
Birger N
BN
Lindberg
Eva
E
Norrman
Eva
E
Nyström
Lennarth
L
Omenaas
Ernst
E
Torén
Kjell
K
Svanes
Cecilie
C
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004957:Estonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000453:epidemiology; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries / Q000453:epidemiology; D012913:Snoring / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires