Early Childhood Caries and Body Mass Index in Young Children from Low Income Families

Luciane Costa,Maria Queiroz,Anelise Daher

doi:10.3390/ijerph10030867

Abstract

The relationship between early childhood caries (ECC) and obesity is controversial. This cross-sectional survey investigated this association in children from low-income families in Goiania, Goias, Brazil and considered the role of several social determinants. A questionnaire examining the characteristics of the children and their families was administered to the primary caregiver during home visits. In addition, children (approximately 6 years of age) had their height, weight, and tooth condition assessed. The primary ECC outcome was categorized as one of the following: caries experience (decayed, missing, filled tooth: “dmft” index > 0), active ECC (decayed teeth > 0), or active severe ECC (decayed teeth ≥ 6). Descriptive, bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted. The participants in the current study consisted of 269 caregiver-child dyads, 88.5% of whom were included in the Family Health Program. Caregivers were mostly mothers (67.7%), were 35.3 ± 10.0 years old on average and had 9.8 ± 3.1 years of formal education. The mean family income was 2.3 ± 1.5 times greater than the Brazilian minimum wage. On average, the children in the current study were 68.7 ± 3.8 months old. Of these, 51.7% were boys, 23.4% were overweight or obese, 45.0% had active ECC, and 17.1% had severe ECC. The average body mass index (BMI) of the children was 15.9 ± 2.2, and their dmft index was 2.5 ± 3.2. BMI was not associated with any of the three categories of dental caries (p > 0.05). In contrast, higher family incomes were significantly associated with the lack of caries experience in children (OR 1.22, 95%CI 1.01–1.50), but the mother’s level of education was not significantly associated with ECC.

Highlights

Childhood caries (ECC), which results from a chronic imbalance between multiple risk factors and protective factors, remains a public health problem in many communities [1]
A total of 303 child-caregiver dyads were selected to participate in the present study
29 participants were excluded because the parents did not provide consent, and five did not have the opportunity to have their weight or height assessed

Summary

Introduction

Childhood caries (ECC), which results from a chronic imbalance between multiple risk factors and protective factors, remains a public health problem in many communities [1]. Because the global increase in childhood obesity throughout diverse populations shares several behavioral and social etiological factors with dental caries, multiple studies have attempted to explore the associations between these two chronic diseases in both primary and permanent dentitions, but the results of these studies remain controversial. In 2006, a systematic review concluded that only one study showed a direct association between obesity and dental caries with a high level of evidence [6]. Several retrospective studies of primary dentitions have shown that obese and overweight children may have less tooth caries than children who are underweight or healthy weight [4,7]

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