Asthma is a potentially deadly medical condition that affects approximately 20 million Americans.
Uncontrolled asthma affects many children and adults, reducing the quality of life, increasing healthcare expenditures, and causing missed work and school.
According to recent study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, Snoring was widespread among school-aged children in cities and was linked to increased risk of developing severe asthma.
What is known is that asthma and sleep apnea are bidirectionally related illnesses that are prevalent in childhood and disproportionately affect minorities, according to the study’s background.
The study examined the relationship between snoring frequency and asthma morbidity in 339 children (mean age, 7.9 years; 53.4 percent male; 36.3 percent Hispanic; 35.1 percent Black) enrolled in the School Inner-City Asthma Study — a longitudinal prospective cohort study of children with persistent asthma who attended schools in the United States of America’s Northeast between 2008 and 2013.
The majority (72.2 percent) lived in households earning less than $45,000 a year, 49.3 percent were overweight or obese, and 65.5 percent had atopy.
The researchers collected baseline data on asthma symptoms, snoring, and allergy status, and caregivers completed quarterly surveys on asthma symptoms, snoring, and health outcomes for one year.
The study assessed snoring frequency — classified as non-, rare-, occasionally-, or habitual-snoring — and its connection with asthma symptoms and morbidity using mixed-effects models.
Nearly a quarter (24.8 percent ) of the group reported snoring on a regular basis, however, the team noticed that snoring frequency changed throughout the study period.
In comparison to nonsnoring and all other snoring categories, habitual snoring days were linked with an increased likelihood of also having days with maximum asthma symptom (OR = 1.58; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.19-2.1).
Additionally, when compared to nonsnorers, habitual snoring was linked with an increased risk of health care usage (incidence RR = 1.72; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.1-2.69) and poor asthma control (OR = 1.49; CI, 1.05-2.11).
“This study expands the knowledge of the association of asthma and sleep-disordered breathing and asthma, particularly in vulnerable populations, and stresses the need to monitor this in high-risk children of minority racial and ethnic backgrounds,” said the lead author.
“We are working to further comprehensively understand modifiable risk factors for sleep, snoring and health outcomes in an ongoing study.”
Image Credit: GEtty