four independently associated with snoring

Lead author and physician at University Hospital in Umea, Sweden, Karl Franklin, M.D., Ph..D, has said that his research findings include identifying early life environments as affecting whether or not you are a snorer later in life. Other experts that have done similar studies with these findings say that more research will be needed, and Franklin even acknowledges that the research is no reason to steer clear of the idea of childhood pets.

Franklin and his research team polled women and men between the ages of 25 to 54 along with all the residents of Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Estonia, and they got responses from 15,556 people. Participants were asked about their childhood, such as whether they had a dog or any other pets, whether they were ever hospitalized for respiratory infections before the age of two, and whether they suffered from recurrent ear infections. They were also asked about the size of their family, their parents' educational background, and the ages of their mothers.

The researchers found that four independently associated with snoring later in life.

• If they were hospitalized for a respiratory infection before the age of 2, their risk of later snoring was boosted by 1.27 times.


• If they suffered from reccurent ear infections as a child their risk was raised by 1.18 times.


• If they grew up in a family with more than five members it increased their risk by 1.04 times.


• If they exposure to a dog in the houshold as a newborn their risk was boosted by 1.26 times.

Franklin decided to take a look at early childhood exposures and later risk of snoring, following a trend in medical research of looking at how many adult associated diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular, can be traced to childhood exposures and experiences. He stated that exactly why the exposures he found associated with snoring ups the risk is not yet known. "Perhaps these things like dogs, infection, might increase the size of the tonsils," and that could in turn boost the risk of snoring later in life.

A sleep medicine expert and a the medical director of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Illinois, said that the findings of the study need significant follow-up research. "This doesn't say much to me," she stated about the findings. Early infections are the most feasible of all of the risk factors associated with boosting the risk of snoring. "It's not clear how the dog and the large family is associated with snoring." The two risk factors that are well known for snoring, she says, are the structure of the throat of each individual and obesity.

Another expert and an associate clinical professor at the Yale Center for Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Waterbury, Connecticut, Christopher C. Randolph, M.D., says that the exposure to infection and exposure to dogs are the links to snoring that makes the most sense. "Certainly individuals who are exposed to sever airway episodes, have recurrent [ear infections], live in large families where infection is common, and have a dog may be more likely to develop an immunologic ... response in the airways leading to tonsillar and or adenoidal [enlargement] and narrowing of the airway leading to snoring," he stated.