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NEW YORK - Snoring in children may be a result of allergies, Australian researchers report.
In an asthma prevention study of a group of 5-year-olds, Dr Nathaniel Marshall and his team at the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research in Sydney found the risk factors involved were similar to those for allergic disorders.
That included exposure to cigarette smoke in the first year of life, asthma and eczema. In adults, snoring is strongly tied to obesity but, in children, the swelling of the lining of their smaller airways may be a stronger risk factor, Marshall and his team reported in Paediatric Pulmonology.
Their study found that first-born children were 2.5 times more likely to snore than children with older siblings, while several other studies have found eldest children are at greater risk of allergic diseases.
Having a mother who smoked in the home during a child's first year of life boosted the snoring risk 2.4-fold.
Children with asthma were 2.51 times more likely to be snorers, while having eczema increased the likelihood of snoring 2.29-fold. However, children's body mass index was not a factor, the study found.
- REUTERS
