Association between proxy-reported sleep bruxism and quality of life aspects in Colombian children of different social layers

Objective To describe and explore the association between proxy-reported sleep bruxism (SB) and quality of life (QoL) in a population of Colombian children belonging to different social layers.

Methods The parents of 1556, 6–13-year-old school children, were administered the Pediatric Inventory of Quality of Life (PedsQL4.0™) and an evaluation of their sociodemographic and socioeconomic conditions. Associations between such proxy-reported, viz., “possible” SB and QoL features were assessed by means of the linear-by-linear association test on the overall sample and for distinct socioeconomic groups.

Results No significant associations were shown between proxy-reported sleep bruxism and the total and domain PedsQL scores, with the exception of a weak correlation with the School Functioning Score. As for the specific QoL items, only two variables of the Emotional Functioning Scale of the PedsQL4.0 (i.e., “feeling afraid or scared” and “trouble sleeping”) and a feature of the School Functioning Scale (i.e., “forgetting things”) were weakly correlated with SB, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.092 to 0.119. Considering the different socioeconomic groups, no associations were found in the low layer. In the medium socioeconomic group, a significant association was pointed out with one emotional functioning aspect, while in the high layer an association was found with two emotional features and three school functioning variables.

Conclusion The results pointed out only a few associations between proxy-reported SB and the emotional and school functioning aspects of children’s quality of life, both in the total sample as well as in children belonging to medium and high socioeconomic status, while no associations were found with physical health and social functioning domains. Clinical relevance: This article gives information to help clinicians evaluating the QoL, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic characteristics in children with possible sleep bruxism.