Obesity appears to be associated with dental caries in the primary dentition of preschool Mexican children.

Allergic rhinitis alone or together with non-nutritive sucking habits is related to anterior open bite. Non-nutritive sucking habits together with allergic rhinitis seem to be the most important factor for development of posterior open bite in children under the age of 5 years.

Previous publications have suggested that living in a nonintact family household and socializing with girlfriends who smoke or who consume alcoholic beverages favor the development of health-risk habits and customs in adolescents. However, their relationship with unplanned pregnancy in adolescents has not been determined. We investigated the association between family structure, employed mother, and female friends with health-risk habits and behaviors with unplanned pregnancy in adolescents (n = 3,130). After adjusting for low maternal educational level and low family income, logistic regression analyses showed that having an employed mother and socializing with girlfriends who have health-risk habits or behaviors, rather than living in a nonintact family household, appear to be the most important health-risk factors for unplanned pregnancy in adolescents. It is important for health-care programs for adolescents to be revised and for their strategies be strengthened in order to reach the objectives for which they were created.

The elevated prevalence of obesity as well as of asthma in preschool children has prompted investigators to speculate that obesity in childhood might be a causal factor in the development of asthma. The results obtained to date are debatable. We investigated the association between obesity and asthma in 1,160 preschool Mexican children. Diagnosis of asthma was performed using the International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. The body mass index (BMI) in units of kg/m2 was determined, and children were categorized according to age- and gender-specific criteria, such as normal weight (5th-85th percentile), overweight (ࣙ85th and <95th percentile), and obesity (ࣙ95th percentile). Power test for logistic regression model was calculated. We found no association between overweight (adjusted OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 0.66–1.58), obesity (adjusted OR = 0.94; 95% CI = 0.68–1.30), and wheezing during the last year as determined by logistic regression model adjusted. We did not find an association between overweight, obesity, and asthma-associated hospitalizations. Further longitudinal studies are required to provide a better understanding of the relationship between obesity and asthma in preschool children.

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