Childhood Asthma Linked to Snoring

An Australian study has found that children who snore may be more likely to have asthma and a nighttime cough, compared with children who do not snore. When diagnosing asthma in children, physicians often use night cough as a guide. The results of a study published recently in Chest, however, suggest that treating the snoring first may be the best course of action.

?Night cough is often taken as a sign of the onset or development of asthma in a young child,? said Colin E. Sullivan, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of Sydney. ?Our study shows that such coughing might be?triggered by the child?s snoring.?

Although snoring may raise the risk of nighttime coughing even in children who do not have asthma, Dr. Sullivan noted that childhood asthma and snoring appear connected. The study, however, ?does not reveal the nature? of the link between snoring and asthma, according to Dr. Sullivan.