Assessment of Anxiety and Coping Features in Bruxers: A Portable Electromyographic and Electrocardiographic Study

Aims: To determine whether there is a correlation between any psychological features and sleep bruxism (SB). Methods: A total of 36 healthy volunteers underwent an in-home evaluation with a portable device combining electromyographic (EMG) and electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings for the diagnosis of SB. They were administered questionnaires that assessed state and trait anxiety levels and coping strategies. The study hypothesis was that the SB index was significantly correlated with an individual's anxiety and coping. Correlation between SB index and psychological features was assessed and a comparison between SB prevalences in subjects with different psychological scores was carried out. Results: Correlation analysis showed that the SB index was not correlated with any of the psychological scales; however, there were some significant correlations (r values range from 0.393 to 0.458) between the SB index and specific items from the trait anxiety and coping scales. Crosstabulations of subjects with SB and with high (overmedian) or low (undermedian) scores for the various psychological measures revealed significant correlations between the prevalence of SB in higher-scoring subjects for state anxiety scores (Phi coefficient = .456; P = .006), trait anxiety scores (Phi = 0.369; P = .027), and social support coping strategy (Phi = 0.387; P = .020). Conclusion: These findings support the study hypothesis only in part and confirm the absence of a clear-cut relationship between SB and psychological features. Keywords: anxiety, bruxism, coping, personality, psychology, sleep bruxism