Background: Failure to thrive is one of the most important health problems of children around the word and in developing countries. This study aimed at investigating factors associated with failure to thrive among the children aged 3 to 72 months in Jahrom city of southern Iran. Methods: This case-control study comprised of 250 children aged 3 to 72 months. The case group included children with growth curves below the third percentile in more than one measurement and children above the third percentile with failure to gain weight or with weight loss during at least 1 month. The control group was selected from children with normal growth rate. The case and control groups were matched in terms of age and gender. The chi-square test and logistic regression method were applied for analysis of data using the SPSS 17 software. Results: Failure to thrive in children was significantly associated with factors, such as lower level of mother's education (OR = 4.29, %95 CI = 1.80 -10.25, P < 0.001), mother's body mass index being less than 18.5 before pregnancy (OR = 22.06, %95CI = 4.83 -100.73, P < 0.001), parental consanguinity (OR = 2.02, %95CI = 1.081 -3.79, P = 0.028), and bottle feeding (OR = 2.72, %95CI = 1.34 -5.34, P = 0.005). Conclusion: Failure to thrive causes serious complications in children later in their lives. With regards to the relatively high prevalence of this problem among children aged under 6 years of age, it is therefore deemed necessary, as an important health problem, to identify factors associated with this disorder, improve pre-pregnancy care, promote women's education level, and train parents to consider appropriate nutrition of children and healthy pregnancy.
Background
Dental and oral diseases can have negative impacts on children’s quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in the children aged 2–5 years old.
Materials and methods
A total number of 288 children aged between 2 and 5 years were selected and stratified by gender from three community health centres located in the city of Jahrom, south of Fars Province, Iran. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability was confirmed. The questionnaire was completed by parents/caregivers of the children. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed with quality of life as the dependent variable and, based on covariance structural analysis, evaluated the goodness of fit of the resulting structural equations models.
Results
The results showed that predisposing factors with a coefficient of 0.0457 (p = 0.015) and reinforcing factors ones with a coefficient of 0.2748 (p < 0.001) were correlated with the oral health behaviours. Moreover, there was a relationship between such behaviours with a coefficient of 0.1612 (p < 0.001) and oral health status and the given status with a coefficient − 0.9714 was correlated with OHRQoL (p < 0.001). Based on the covariance structural analysis, the resulting model was found to exhibit a reasonable goodness of fit.
Conclusion
The predictors of the children’s OHRQoL included predisposing, strengthening, oral health behaviours and oral health status. Therefore, planning to enhance supportive family behaviours and to boost predisposing factors including knowledge, attitudes, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy in parents and their oral health behaviours is recommended.
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