Body mass index and dental caries in New Zealand pre‐school children: A population‐based study

Abstract

Pre-school dental caries is a significant public health problem and may be associated with the growth and nutritional status of children. This study aimed to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and early childhood caries (ECC) among pre-school children. Methods: This population-based retrospective study involves all 5-year-old children who resided in northern New Zealand and received school entry dental examinations between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2015. ECC status was determined with the decayed missing filled teeth (dmft) score obtained from a routinely collected regional dental data set. Objectively measured BMI information was obtained from the 'Before School Check' (B4SC) Programme. Logistic regression analyses were used to assess the association between BMI and the occurrence of ECC (dmft score ≥ 1). Ethnic subgroup analyses were also conducted. Results: Of the 27 333 children involved in this analysis, 11 173 (40.9%) had ECC with a mean dmft score of 1.85, and 3948 (14.4%) were overweight and 2964 (10.8%) were obese at school entry. The prevalence of ECC was higher in overweight and obese children but in subgroup analyses by ethnicity, this positive association was observed in European children only (adjusted odds ratio for overweight children compared to normal weight children: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.32 and adjusted odds ratio for obese children: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.45). Conclusion: ECC is highly prevalent in New Zealand children and associated with higher BMI in children of European ethnicity.

Dental caries and it is association with body mass index among primary school children in Babylon City, Iraq

“…These results agreed with the study findings conducted in Iran (Youssefi and Afroughi, 2020) which found that the mean ± SD of their ages was 9.5± 1.55 years. There was a distinct male preponderance of 53.1%, which agreed with the study done by Aung et al, (2021) who revealed 50.7% of the participants were boys. Also, it corresponds with another study that found The average age of the children in the study was 9.26 years, with a standard deviation of 1.83 years; males made up 51.62 percent of the sample (Alsadat et al, 2018).…”

Effects of perinatal disease activity on offspring's growth in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…Normal values for laboratory tests were as follows: white blood cells (WBC) 4-10×10 9 /L, hemoglobin ≥ 110 g/L (female), platelets 125-350×10 9 /L, complement C3 0.8-1.6 g/L, C4 0.2-0.4 g/L, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) ≤ 20 mm/h, Creactive protein (CRP) ≤ 8 mg/dl, serum creatinine 44-106 µmol/L. Outcomes of SLE offspring were defined by referring to previous literatures, including stunting 15 , underweight 15 , anemia 16 , learning disorders 17 , sensory integration dysfunction 18 , eczema 19 , dental caries 20 , allergic rhinitis or allergic asthma 21 , congenital heart disease 22 and respiratory tract infection in infancy 23 . Data from a number of large census studies on children's long-term outcomes 15,16,[24][25][26][27][28] and other reported studies on long-term outcomes in SLE offspring [29][30][31][32] were applied as normal controls and disease controls respectively.…”

Health professionals delivering oral health interventions in early childhood: A scoping review of Australian and New Zealand literature

“…3 However, dental caries remains the most prevalent chronic disease in Australian and New Zealand children. [5][6][7] In Australia, approximately 8% of children aged 18 months experience dental caries increasing to 23% by 36 months of age 8 and ECC are most prevalent in children who are socially or economically disadvantaged. 9 Healthy oral health habits should be established by the time the first primary tooth erupts to avoid the onset of ECC.…”

“…At the community level the introduction of fluoride to water supplies and toothpastes have led to improvements in oral health for large proportions of populations since the mid‐20th century 3 . However, dental caries remains the most prevalent chronic disease in Australian and New Zealand children 5–7 . In Australia, approximately 8% of children aged 18 months experience dental caries increasing to 23% by 36 months of age 8 and ECC are most prevalent in children who are socially or economically disadvantaged 9…”