Is Otalgia be a symptom of anxiety in children?

ABSTRACT

One of the common causes of ear pain (Otalgia) in children is the pain felt in the temporomandibular region due to bruxism, usually accompanied by stress and anxiety. The diagnosis and treatment of anxiety at an early age will affect the future lives of children. Our aim in the study was to investigate the presence and subtypes of anxiety in children with otalgia due to bruxism. In our study, 86 children aged between 6 and 16 years old who had ear pain and whose pain and tenderness were detected in the temporomandibular joint area and 40 healthy children were included as the control group. The children in both study groups were administered the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) test by the clinical psychologist. There was no statistical correlation between the children with bruxism and normal children (p > 0.05). While anxiety rate was 82% in children with bruxism, this rate was found to be 12.5% in normal children, this result was also statistically significant (p < 0.01). According to the SCAS test, when the subscales of anxiety detected in children with bruxism were evaluated, According to the SCAS test, when the subscales of anxiety detected in children with bruxism were evaluated, it was observed that the performance anxiety was high in the 6-12 and 12-16 age group. However, obsessive symptoms were mostly observed in the 12-16 age group while separation anxiety was detected in children in the 6-12 age group.