Maserejian Nancy Nairi, Trachtenberg Felicia, Hayes Catherine, Tavares Mary
New England Research Institutes, 9 Galen Street, Watertown, MA 02472, USA.
J Public Health Dent. 2008 Winter;68(1):14-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2007.00060.x.
Previous research shows increased dental decay among immigrants, but little is known about the oral health of the growing population of children of immigrants. We compared the children of immigrants to the children of US-born caregivers in their caries experience at enrollment and their new caries increments during the 5-year New England Children's Amalgam Trial (NECAT).
NECAT recruited 283 Boston-area children aged 6 to 10 with untreated caries and offered free semiannual preventive and restorative dental care during the trial. Sociodemographic factors and caregiver immigrant status were assessed through interviews. Multivariate negative binomial models evaluated the association between caregiver immigrant status and clinically assessed carious surfaces.
Forty percent of these Boston-area children had immigrant caregivers. At baseline, the children of immigrants had more carious surfaces (11.5 versus 9.4, adjusted for race/ethnicity, age, gender, and caregiver smoking status). Caregiver language preference explained some of this association. Immigrant status and language preference were not associated with 5-year caries increments.
Prevalent disparities in the unmet dental needs of the immigrants' children were quickly ameliorated during participation in NECAT Dental initiatives that target neighborhoods and are sensitive to acculturation levels may help improve and maintain the oral health of immigrant families.
以往研究表明移民中龋齿发病率上升，但对于不断增长的移民儿童群体的口腔健康情况却知之甚少。我们将移民儿童与在美国出生的照料者的子女在入组时的龋齿经历以及在为期5年的新英格兰儿童汞合金试验（NECAT）期间新出现的龋齿增量进行了比较。
NECAT招募了283名年龄在6至10岁、有未经治疗龋齿的波士顿地区儿童，并在试验期间每半年提供一次免费的预防性和修复性牙科护理。通过访谈评估社会人口统计学因素和照料者的移民身份。多变量负二项式模型评估了照料者移民身份与临床评估的龋面之间的关联。
这些波士顿地区儿童中有40%的照料者是移民。在基线时，移民儿童有更多的龋面（11.5个对9.4个，对种族/族裔、年龄、性别和照料者吸烟状况进行了调整）。照料者的语言偏好解释了这种关联的部分原因。移民身份和语言偏好与5年的龋齿增量无关。
在参与NECAT期间，移民儿童未满足的牙科需求方面普遍存在的差异迅速得到改善。针对社区且对文化适应水平敏感的牙科倡议可能有助于改善和维持移民家庭的口腔健康。
