Karl Franklin, the study's lead author and a physician at University Hospital here, analyzed sleep habits and other childhood hospitalizations of men and women aged 25 to 54 -- all residents of Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, and Estonia -- and got responses from 15,556.
Researchers also asked if they had a dog or other pets and about family size, parental education, and mothers' ages. They found that children who were hospitalized for a respiratory infection before age 2 boosted the risk of later snoring by 1.27 times. Suffering from recurrent ear infections as a child raised the risk 1.18 times.
Children who grew up in a family with more than five members increased the risk of snoring by 1.04 times while exposure to a dog in the home as a newborn boosted risk of later snoring 1.26 times.
The study is published in the Aug. 22 issue of Respiratory Research.
Snoring is the vibration of respiratory structures and the resulting sound, due to obstructed air movement during breathing while sleeping. It is also a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, when people actually stop breathing briefly while asleep. Obesity, age, smoking and chronic bronchitis all increase the risk of snoring.
