Sleep and its association with dental caries or myopia in first graders

Abstract

Aim: First grade is a transition from pre-school to school-age. The change in lifestyle behaviours such as sleep may have a physiological response, which contributes to the presence or absence of two highly incident diseases: dental caries or myopia. The aim of the study was to examine the association between sleep and myopia as well as sleep and dental caries in first graders.

Design: It is a cross-sectional study.

Methods: This was a recruitment phase of an interventional study. A total of 338 children whose caregivers completed a Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Caregivers also provided information regarding myopia and caries status of children and their parents. Binary logistic regression was applied to analyse the potential risk factors.

Results: Dental caries and myopia rates were 45.9% and 9.5%, respectively. After adjusting for children's gender, children's age, fathers with caries and mothers with caries, the odds ratio for dental caries in children who slept less than 9 h when compared to those who slept for nine and more hours was 1.94. Mothers with caries were 3.37 times more likely to have children with caries than mothers without caries. However, sleep was not associated with myopia in first graders.

Conclusion: Sleeping less than 9 h and maternal caries were risk factors of children developing dental caries. Future sleep and myopia studies can be conducted on higher graders who may present prolonged exposure and accumulations of myopic risk factors.

Implications: Screening of children with insufficient sleep is needed for nurses to enable the early identification of high-risk groups for dental caries in school settings. Family nurses are encouraged to work with family members to implement tailored sleep interventions, in order to facilitate better sleep and oral health practices in both school and home settings.

Registration: This study protocol was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Registration number: Redacted).

Keywords: dental caries; myopia; school age; sleep.