Smartphone-based evaluation of awake bruxism behaviours in a sample of healthy young adults: findings from two University centres.

A smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) strategy was used to assess the frequency of awake bruxism behaviours, based on the report of five oral conditions (ie relaxed jaw muscles, teeth contact, mandible bracing, teeth clenching and teeth grinding). One hundred and fifty-three (N = 153) healthy young adults (mean ± SD age = 22.9 ± 3.2 years), recruited in two different Italian Universities, used a dedicated smartphone application that sent 20 alerts/day at random times for seven days. Upon alert receipt, the subjects had to report in real-time one of the above five possible oral conditions. Individual data were used to calculate an average frequency of the study population for each day. For each condition, a coefficient of variation (CV) of frequency data was calculated as the ratio between SD and mean values over the seven recording days. Average frequency of the different behaviours over the seven days was as follows: relaxed jaw muscle, 76.4%; teeth contact, 13.6%; mandible bracing, 7.0%; teeth clenching, 2.5%; and teeth grinding, 0.5%. No significant differences were found in frequency data between the two University samples. The relaxed jaw muscles condition was more frequent in males (80.7 ± 17.7) than in females (73.4 ± 22.2). The frequency of relaxed jaw muscles condition over the period of observation had a very low coefficient of variation (0.27), while for the different awake bruxism behaviours, CV was in a range between 1.5 (teeth contact) and 4.3 (teeth grinding). Teeth contact was the most prevalent behaviour (57.5-69.7). Findings from this investigation suggest that the average frequency of AB behaviours over one week, investigated using EMA-approach, is around 23.6%.

Smartphone-based application for EMA assessment of awake bruxism: compliance evaluation in a sample of healthy young adults.

OBJECTIVE: A smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) strategy to collect real time data on awake bruxism (AB) has been recently introduced. The aim of this study was to assess the compliance with its use over 1 week in a sample of healthy young adults. METHOD: Sixty (N = 60) healthy young adults (mean age 24.2 ± 4.1 years) used a dedicated smartphone application that sent 20 alerts at random times throughout the day. Upon alert receipt, the subjects had to report in real time their condition among five possible options: relaxed jaw muscles, teeth contact, teeth clenching, teeth grinding, and mandible bracing. Compliance rate with the app was assessed at the individual and group level in terms of percentage of answered alerts as well as number of days that were needed to reach the targeted observation period of 7 days with a compliance of at least 60%. RESULTS: The mean compliance recorded with the smartphone application was 67.8% of the total alerts. On average, 9.8 ± 3.2 days (range 7-19) have been necessary to achieve the targeted goal of 7 days with a minimum of 60% alerts/day. No gender differences were detected in any compliance data. Response rate was not different during weekdays or weekends. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation is the first attempt to assess individual compliance with EMA for reporting awake bruxism. Results suggest that a smartphone-based strategy can have interesting potential. The compliance rate reported in this study will serve as a comparison standpoint for future investigations. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Based on the recent multidisciplinary focus on the study of awake bruxism, EMA has emerged as a potential approach for use in the clinical and research settings. This investigation suggests that compliance with such strategy is good, thus making it worthy of adoption for the assessment of AB and its clinical implications.

Contrast medium nephrotoxicity after renal artery and coronary angioplasty.

BACKGROUND: Renal dysfunction induced by iodinated contrast medium (CM) administration can minimize the benefit of the interventional procedure in patients undergoing renal angioplasty (PTRA). PURPOSE: To compare the susceptibility to nephrotoxic effect of CM in patients undergoing PTRA with that of patients submitted to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 33 patients successfully treated with PTRA (PTRA group, mean age 70+/-12 years, 23 female, basal creatinine 1.46+/-0.79, range 0.7-4.9 mg/dl) were compared with 33 patients undergoing successful PCI (PCI group), matched for basal creatinine (1.44+/-0.6, range 0.7-3.4 mg/dl), gender, and age. In both groups postprocedural (48 h) serum creatinine was measured. RESULTS: Postprocedural creatinine level decreased nonsignificantly in the PTRA group (1.46+/-0.8 vs. 1.34+/-0.5 mg/dl, P=NS) and increased significantly in the PCI group (1.44+/-0.6 vs. 1.57+/-0.7 mg/dl, P<0.02). Changes in serum creatinine after intervention (after-before) were significantly different between the PTRA and PCI groups (-0.12+/-0.5 vs. 0.13+/-0.3, P=0.014). This difference was not related to either a different clinical risk profile or to the volume of CM administered. CONCLUSION: In this preliminary study patients submitted to PTRA showed a lower susceptibility to renal damage induced by CM administration than PCI patients. The effectiveness of PTRA on renal function seems to be barely influenced by CM toxicity.