HEALTH UPDATE: young kids' snoring may be allergy-related

Snoring in children may be a manifestation of allergic disease, Australian researchers report. In a group of 5-year-olds participating in an asthma prevention study, Dr Nathaniel S. Marshall of the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research in Sydney and his associates found that risk factors for snoring were very similar to those for allergic disorders.
These risk factors 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 suggest in the current issue of Pediatric Pulmonology.