Abstract
This study aimed to identify the symptoms and prevalence of snoring among primary school children in Ankara, Turkey, as reported by their parents and to determine the level of parental knowledge regarding possible associations between snoring, mouth breathing and dentofacial development. Parents of children ages 8–12 attending 8 randomly selected primary schools from different districts in Ankara were asked to complete a 43-item multiple-choice questionnaire to collect information about snoring habits of children and possible adverse effects of habitual snoring (HS), defined as snoring more than 3 times per week, on dentofacial structural development. A total of 2245 questionnaires were distributed, and 1,516 were returned (return rate 67.52%). The overall prevalence of snoring was reported to be 37.60%, whereas the overall prevalence of “habitual snoring” (more than 3 times/week) was reported to be 6.33% (16.84% of “all snorers”). A correlation was found between passive smoking and habitual snoring frequency. Nocturnal and diurnal symptoms increase with an increase in the frequency of habitual snoring in children. Although the majority of parents surveyed (61.56%) were conscious that snoring was an indication of a likely medical risk, less than half (47.18%) were aware of the impact of snoring on jaw development; these findings indicate the need to raise awareness of this issue among the general public.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Prof. Dr. Ensar Başpınar for analyzing our statistics and helping us in our results. This manuscript was reviewed and gone through by Deborah Semel Demirtaş. We thank Mrs. Demirtaş, who did the grammatical corrections and checked the content integrity.
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Zaimoğlu, E., Hoxha, S., Özdiler, O. et al. Reported prevalence of habitual pediatric snoring and the level of parental awareness. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 15, 75–80 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-016-0082-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-016-0082-6