Impact on oral health-quality of life in infants: Multicenter study in Latin American countries

Abstract

To assess the impact of oral conditions on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in infants in ten Latin America countries (LAC). A cross-sectional study was conducted with 930 pairs of 1-to-3-year-old children/parents from 10 LAC, as a complementary study of the Research Observatory for Dental Caries of the Latin American Region. The scale ECOHIS, previously tested and valid in ten countries, was applied to parents/caregivers of children to measure OHRQoL. Statistical analysis included descriptive data analysis and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA-One-Way) were performed to compare age groups with OHRQoL. Bootstrapping procedures (1000 re-samplings; 95%CI Bca) were performed. The mean scores of the ‘Child Impact’ section in the LAC was 4.0(±8.3), in the ‘Family Impact’ section was 2.0(±4.0), and in overall ECOHIS score was 6.0(±12.0). In the ‘Child Impact’ section, Argentina 10.0(+2.4) and Venezuela 17.8(±17.5) demonstrated mean scores higher than the LAC total data. In the ‘Family Impact’ section, the countries with higher mean scores were Argentina 4.9(±2.0), Ecuador 2.1(±3.1) and Venezuela 7.9(±7.8). In the overall ECOHIS score, Argentina 15.1 (±4.1) and Venezuela 25.7(±25.2) has higher mean scores than the values of LAC. There is an association between children's age and parents' report of impact on the OHRQoL (p<0.001). Three-year-olds had a higher mean when compared to one- and two-year-olds, both in the Impact on the Child and Impact on the Family (p<0.001) sections, as well as in the overall ECOHIS (p<0.001). In conclusion, there are differences in OHRQoL among Latin American countries, impacting older children more significantly.

Epidemiological study on dental caries in schoolchildren: A cross-sectional study

“…Socioeconomic levels are lowall children and adolescents belong to classes C2, D or E, and most are beneficiaries of the Programa Bolsa Família. Unfavorable socioeconomic indicators are constantly associated with a higher prevalence of caries (Paiva et al, 2022). As for access to fluoridated public water supply, coverage of only 35.1% of this benefit was obtained, so that most families make use of water from wells or springs (Khemiss et al, 2022).…”

“…Preventive potency of water fluoridation can still be proven (Chisini et al, 2022;Ferreira et al, 2022;Paiva et al, 2022). Thus, the deficiency in the public supply of fluoridated water, in most of the rural area, tends to potentiate the phenomenon of polarization of dental caries (Melgar et al, 2016).…”

“…Socioeconomic conditions were assessed using the economic classification criteria questionnaire proposed by the Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa (ABEP). This criterion considers household comfort goods, education of the head of the family and the characteristics of the household, and categorizes the economic class of families into eight strata: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D, and E (ABEP, 2016) (through this same questionnaire, it was possible to identify whether the child had access to fluoridated public water supply) (Paiva et al, 2022). The questionnaires were delivered to the participants upon signature of the free and informed consent form and were completed by them, without the help of the researchers, in a selfreported manner (Sukumaran et al, 2020).…”

“…According to Política Nacional de Saúde bucal, the appropriation of individual and collective knowledge tends to contribute to the achievement of autonomy and selfcare. In this way, health education acts as a protective factor against oral diseases and, consequently, tends to reduce the prevalence of caries (Paiva et al, 2022). Participation was voluntary after obtaining informed consent from parents and students.…”

“…However, it is believed that these data are underestimated, making it even more difficult to fight for the effective execution of public and social policies specific to this group (Castrillón et al, 2022). The existing inequities in oral health, characterized by a higher prevalence of caries in poorer population groups, are persistent and reflect the marked social inequalities in Brazil and their implications for the health of the population (Paiva et al, 2022). Thus, carrying out epidemiological surveys on the oral health of vulnerable populations, such as the traditional communities of the Legal Amazon, becomes essentially important for the assessment of the oral health conditions of these populations, and for the elaboration of health policies that are capable of to reduce health inequalities (Vieira et al, 2022).…”