1Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi.
2National Institute of Medical Statistics, ICMR, New Delhi.
*Address for correspondence: Prof (Dr.) J. C. Suri, Consultant & Head, Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi, E-mail: jcsuri@rediffmail.com.
A questionnaire-based study was performed amongst schoolchildren of Delhi and their first degree relatives to assess the sleep patterns. 2475 subjects were finally selected for analysis. It was observed that 10.8% of the children who had bruxism had no familial linkage. Whereas 42.6% of them also had a sibling who had bruxism, 44.4% had either one/both parents along with one/both grandparents with the disorder. In the case of snoring, 5.6% had no familial linkage, 45.5%, 9.7% and 7.5% had a linkage with siblings, parents/grandparents and parents as well as grandparents respectively. It can be inferred from these observations of the present study that the prevalence of most sleep disorders was the least in those children who had no familial linkage of the condition at all. The results of this study emphasize the urgent need to conduct more extensive genetic analyses to establish the causative factors, if any.
