Assessment of the risk of sleep-related breathing disorders in young orthodontic population (6–14 years old) in Southern Italy

Background: Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders is characterized by prolonged upper airway obstruction during sleep. The present study aimed to assess the frequency of Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders in the pediatric orthodontic cohort representative of the Southern Italy population, and to evaluate the prevalence of the type of malocclusion in subjects resulting at risk of Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders. Methods: The study sample comprised 364 children, aged 6–14 years who referred to the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry of the University of Catania for orthodontic treatment. Parents were requested to self-administer the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire questionnaire (PSQ) through Quick Response (QR) code using Google Forms™ before the orthodontic consultation. Subjects who were at high risk of Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders were retrospectively screened for skeletal malocclusion and craniofacial morphologic characteristics. Data were recorded along with cephalometric parameters describing sagittal and vertical skeletal growth pattern and were statistically analyzed using chi-square tests. Results: Within the overall sample, 9.89% of the children were at high risk for Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders. Younger children (6–9 years old) were more prone than older children (11–14 years old) to the risk of developing Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders (13.74% vs. 7.76%). Boys were significantly at a higher risk for Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders than girls, in particular at younger age. There were no questions that could differentiate a child considered to be at high risk of Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders. Conclusions: The present findings would suggest the importance of conducting screenings for Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders in young orthodontic patients and to address individuals identified as high-risk to the sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) specialists for additional assessment and treatment.