title: Early life environment and snoring in adulthood.
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Respiratory Medicine and Allergology, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden. karl.franklin@lung.umu.se
authors: Karl A
authors: KA
authors: Franklin
authors: Christer
authors: C
authors: Janson
authors: Thórarinn
authors: T
authors: Gíslason
authors: Amund
authors: A
authors: Gulsvik
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Gunnbjörnsdottir
authors: Birger N
authors: BN
authors: Laerum
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Lindberg
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Norrman
authors: Lennarth
authors: L
authors: Nyström
authors: Ernst
authors: E
authors: Omenaas
authors: Kjell
authors: K
authors: Torén
authors: Cecilie
authors: C
authors: Svanes
mesh_terms: 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