Indoor allergen exposure in relation to sleep health among US adults

Common indoor allergens can accumulate within the sleep microenvironment (eg, bedding) and may contribute to poor sleep health.

We sought to examine bedroom allergen exposure in relation to multiple sleep dimensions among US adults.

Data for this study (N = 3399) were collected during the 2005 to 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Concentrations of 8 bedroom allergens were assessed and classified as elevated when levels exceeded 75th/90th percentile thresholds. Self-reported sleep measures included having trouble sleeping, any sleep disorder, snoring, and sleep medication use. Adjusting for confounders, we used Poisson regression to estimate associations between bedroom allergen exposures and sleep dimensions overall and by race/ethnicity, sex/gender, and socioeconomic status.

Among adults, elevated pet allergen exposure was the most prevalent (41.2%). Elevated pest allergen exposure was associated with a lower likelihood of a reported sleep disorder diagnosis (prevalence ratio [PR_overall], 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51-0.90). For Hispanic/Latino participants, elevated pet allergen exposure was associated with having trouble sleeping (PR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.02-2.96) and frequent snoring (PR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.01-1.70). Elevated fungal allergen exposure was associated with any sleep disorder diagnosis among participants with moderate socioeconomic status (PR, 3.31; 95% CI, 1.21-9.10) and a higher prevalence of sleep medication use for Hispanic/Latino participants (PR, 5.72; 95% CI, 2.53-12.90; P _interaction < .01). Elevated exposures to pet (PR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.12-3.32) and fungal (PR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.05-2.80) allergens were also associated with being diagnosed with any sleep disorder among women.

In a nationally representative sample of US adults, exposure to elevated levels of bedroom allergens was associated with poor sleep health, and the magnitude of the associations was generally the strongest among minoritized racial/ethnic groups and women.