The effect of sleep disorders, school jet lag, and anxiety in students 8–10 years of age on traumatic dental injuries

Background/Aim

Traumatic dental injuries (TDI) constitute a public health problem. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether sleep disorders, school jet lag, and anxiety are associated with TDI in schoolchildren 8–10 years of age.

Methods

An analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted with 739 pairs of parents/guardians and children enrolled in public and private schools. The parents/guardians answered a socioeconomic questionnaire, the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children, Circadian Energy Scale, and Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Four examiners underwent calibration exercises for the diagnosis of TDI (K > 0.80) using the criteria proposed by Andreasen (2007). A directed acyclic graph was used for the formulation of the theoretical model and statistical adjustments. Unadjusted and adjusted robust binary logistic regression analyses were performed (α = 5%).

Results

The prevalence of TDI was 16.2%. The following variables remained associated with the outcome in the final model: family income less than or equal to the minimum monthly wage (OR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.09–2.88; p = .02), child's height >137.6 cm (OR = 1.68; 95% CI: 1.06–2.64; p = .02), the occurrence of school jet lag (OR = 2.12; 95% CI: 1.27–3.53; p = .004), anxiety (OR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.04–3.00; p = .04) and sleep disorders (OR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.38–1.93; p = .05).

Conclusion

Children from families with a lower income, taller children, those with school jet lag, those with anxiety and those with sleep disorders had a greater occurrence of TDI.