METHODS: 590 charts of patients between 7 and 18 years of age attending the orthodontic clinic at Case Dental School were used. Age, gender, height and weight (abstracted from patient chart)along with tongue length and hyoid to mandibular plane distance (measured from lateral cephalograms) were used to calculate a craniofacial risk score (CRI). Surveys were sent to the 30 patients with the highest and 30 patients with the lowest CRI scores. Sleep-related behavior questions, such as restless sleep, hyperactivity, snoring, mouth breathing, morning headaches and classroom behavior, were scored on an ordinal scale and used to generate a Symptom Score (SS). Dichotomous questions related to sleep such as the recommendations for adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy were scored separately.
RESULTS: 21 participants with the highest CRI (-1.70 ± 0.42) and 15 with the lowest CRI (-4.05 ± 0.40) returned questionnaires. Children with high CRI had greater SSs than children with low CRIs (24.0 ± 7.4 vs. 18.8 ± 6.1). Significant correlation was found between CRI scores and "trouble staying asleep at night," "frequent coughs or colds," and "difficulty paying attention in class." Children who reported doctor's recommendations for tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy also had higher SS than children who did not (26.1±7.37 vs. 20.48±6.8). Participants reporting problems related to sleep had higher SS (29.35.9 vs. 18.56±5.06) and higher CRIs (-2.00±1.01 vs. -2.97±1.23). The correlation between CRI and SS was 0.422. All findings were statistically significant at the P£0.05 level.
CONCLUSIONS: In this survey, children with high and low CRI scores exhibited significant differences in sleep-related behavior.