Assessing associations between caries prevalence and body mass index and nutritional data among children aged 6-12 years.

ASSESSING ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CARIES PREVALENCE AND BODY MASS INDEX AND NUTRITIONAL DATA AMONG CHILDREN AGED 6-12 YEARS. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2016 Jan;47(1):152-9 Authors: Mitrakul K, Asvanund Y, Arunakul M, Srisuchat N, Chotthanakarn N, Praisuwanna N, Luckamnuyporn N Abstract The purpose of this cross sectional study was to examine associations between dental caries and body mass index (BMI) and diet in 6 to 12 year old children. One hundred subjects were included in the study. The number of decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT), height and weight were examined in each subject. The primary caregiver for each subject completed a diet questionnaire. The data were analyzed using a chi-square test, a Fisher's exact test, a Kruskal-Wallis test and an independent sample t-test. Associations between variables and caries were examined using a Spearman's correlation with significance set at a p-value < 0.05. The mean age, BMI and number of DMFT were 9.21 ± 2.1 years old, 18.52 ± 4.8 kg/m2, and 4.03 ± 4.36, respectively. Sixty-seven percent of subjects had a normal BMI, 24% were overweight, and 9% were underweight. Twenty-three percent of subjects had no dental caries (DMFT score = 0), 23% had moderate to many caries (DMFT scores = 3.1-6.9), 22% had very many caries (DMFT scores ≥ 7), 17% had few caries (DMFT scores < 3). Overweight and underweight children did not have a significantly different number of D...
Source: Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health - Category: Tropical Medicine Tags: Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health Source Type: research