Association Between Early Childhood Caries And Malnutrition In A Sub-Urban Population In Nigeria

Abstract

Background: To determine the association between malnutrition and early childhood caries (ECC) in children resident in sub-urban, Nigeria. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of a larger cross-sectional data generated through a household survey. Variables (sex, frequency of sugar consumption, maternal knowledge of oral hygiene, oral hygiene status) associated with ECC in the primary study conducted in the Ile-Ife, Nigeria, were adjusted for in the models. We used Poisson regression analysis to determine the association between ECC and malnutrition (stunting, overweight and underweight). We reported the adjusted prevalence ratio (APR). Results: Of the 370 children, 20 (5.41%) were underweight, 20 (5.41%) were overweight, 67 (18.11%) were wasting, 120 (32.43%) were stunted and 18 (4.86%) had ECC. Factors associated with ECC were being stunted, underweight, overweight and fair oral hygiene. The prevalence of ECC was lower in children who were stunted (APR: 0.14; 95% CI: 0.03-0.69; p=0.02), almost seven times higher in children who were overweight (APR: 6.88; 95% CI: 1.83-25.85; p<0.001), and predictively absent in children who were underweight (APR: 0; 95% CI: 0-0; p<0.001) when compared with children who had normal weight. Non-significant risk indicators for ECC included consuming sugar between meals three times a day or more, having low socioeconomic status and being female. Conclusions: For this study population, the indicators of malnutrition – being stunted, underweight, overweight - and fair oral hygiene were risk indicators for ECC, while the frequency of sugar consumption was not a significant risk indicator. Further studies are needed to identify if there are other mediators of associations between ECC and nutrition status apart from sugar consumption.