HABIT DISORDERS

FREQUENCY OF HABIT DISORDERS IN CHILDREN COMING TO OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT OF ALLIED HOSPITAL FAISALABAD

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood habit behaviors appear in numerous different forms.
Many people engage in some degree of habit like behavior in their lifetime. For example,
habits can range from seemingly benign behaviors, such as nail biting or foot tapping, to more
noticeable physically damaging behaviors, such as teeth grinding (bruxism) and hair pulling.
Habit disorders, now subsumed under the diagnostic term stereotypic movement disorder,
consist of repetitive, seemingly driven, and nonfunctional motor behaviors that interfere with
normal activities or that result in bodily injury. Objectives: To determine the frequency of
different habit disorders in children coming to outpatient department of Pediatrics unit of Allied
Hospital Faisalabad. Study design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Pediatric department of
Allied Hospital Faisalabad. Duration of study: 1 year 06 months. (From 01-03-2015 to 01-09-
2016). Results: We determined that majority of the patients i.e. 40.68%(n=72) were between
49-72 months, mean and sd was 54.23+21.45 months of age, 54.80%(n=97) male and
45.20%(n=80) females, frequency of different habit disorders in children coming to outpatient
department of pediatrics unit of Allied Hospital, Faisalabad revealed 19.31%(n=34), nail biting,
22.03%(n=39) had thumb sucking, 41.81%(n=74) had bruxism, 11.86%(n=21) had hair pulling
and 10.17%(n=18) subjects had other habits. Conclusion: We concluded that the frequency of
different habit disorders i.e. nail biting, thumb sucking, bruxism, hair pulling and other is higher
among children coming to outpatient department of Pediatrics unit of Allied Hospital Faisalabad
and comparable with other studies.