Prevalence of Sleep Apnea Symptoms and Their Association with Bruxism in Children Aged 5–14 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Study Objective: To estimate the prevalence of sleep apnea symptoms and to evaluate their association with bruxism in children aged 5–14 years using validated parental-report instruments. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in a pediatric population. Sleep apnea symptoms were assessed using the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ), applying the established cutoff for positive screening. Bruxism was evaluated using a validated parent-reported questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate prevalence. Associations between variables were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), applying continuity correction when necessary. Results. A total of 1000 children were included in the analysis. The prevalence of sleep apnea symptoms based on PSQ screening was 91.9%, and the prevalence of parent-reported bruxism was 74.3%. Bruxism was observed in 72.0% of children with sleep apnea symptoms and in 100% of those without symptoms. The estimated association indicated a statistically significant but inverse relationship (corrected OR < 1), although interpretation was limited by sparse data and zero-cell counts. High frequencies of several sleep-related symptoms and bruxism-related manifestations were also observed across the sample. Conclusions: Sleep apnea symptoms and bruxism were highly prevalent in this pediatric population. Although a statistically significant association was identified, the observed distribution suggests a non-intuitive pattern that may reflect methodological factors, including measurement characteristics and sample composition. These findings highlight the importance of cautious interpretation of questionnaire-based data and support the need for further studies using objective diagnostic methods.