RESEARCH ARTICLE
Craniofacial Characteristics Related to Daytime Sleepiness Screened by the Paediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale
Min Gu1, Yanqi Yang*, Angus C.H Ho2, Ricky W.K Wong2, Urban Hägg3, Colman P.J McGrath4
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 9
First Page: 31
Last Page: 40
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-9-31
DOI: 10.2174/1874210601509010031
Article History:
Received Date: 8/10/2014Revision Received Date: 10/11/2014
Acceptance Date: 27/11/2014
Electronic publication date: 30 /1/2015
Collection year: 2015
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
The present cross-sectional study aimed to assess daytime sleepiness in Chinese adolescents using the Paediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS) and to identify associations between PDSS answers and craniofacial characteristics. A group of 265 Chinese adolescents aged 11-17 years self-completed the PDSS, and their extra- and intra-oral craniofacial characteristics were recorded. Among the participants, 59.7% (157) experienced one or more daytime sleepiness events. No significant associations were found between total PDSS scores and the craniofacial parameters, but when PDSS answers were assessed at the item level, several craniofacial characteristics were found to be positively associated with daytime sleepiness, such as hypertrophic tonsils (P = 0.05), a relatively large tongue (P < 0.01), a bilateral Class II molar relationship (P < 0.05) and increased overjet (P < 0.05). A short lower face (P < 0.01) and a convex profile (P < 0.01) were found to be negatively associated with daytime sleepiness. Daytime sleepiness is commonly reported among Chinese adolescents seeking orthodontic treatment and there are potential associations between the condition and craniofacial characteristics. An assessment of daytime sleepiness is recommended to orthodontists in young patients presenting with hypertrophic tonsils, relative large tongues and Class II tendency malocclusions, and appropriate medical referrals should also be considered.
