Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Pediatrics. 2010 Jul;126(1):107-14. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-2887. Epub 2010 Jun 14.
The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of primary caregivers' literacy with children's oral health outcomes.
We performed a cross-sectional study of children who were aged < or =6 years and presented for an initial dental appointment in the teaching clinics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry. Caregiver literacy was measured using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (REALD-30). The outcome measures included oral health knowledge, oral health behaviors, primary caregiver's reports of their child's oral health status, and the clinical oral health status of the child as determined by a clinical examination completed by trained, calibrated examiners.
Among the 106 caregiver-child dyads enrolled, 59% of the children were male, 52% were white, and 86% of caregivers were the biological mothers. The bivariate results showed no significant relationships between literacy and oral health knowledge (P = .16) and behaviors (P = .24); however, there was an association between literacy and oral health status (P < .05). The multivariate analysis controlled for race and income; this analysis revealed a significant relationship between caregiver literacy scores and clinical oral health status as determined by using a standardized clinical examination. Caregivers of children with mild to moderate treatment needs were more likely to have higher REALD-30 scores than those with severe treatment needs (odds ratio: 1.14 [95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.25]; P = .003).
Caregiver literacy is significantly associated with children's dental disease status.
本研究旨在探讨主要照顾者的文化程度与儿童口腔健康结果的关系。
我们对年龄≤6 岁且在北卡罗来纳大学教堂山牙科学院教学诊所首次进行牙科预约的儿童进行了横断面研究。使用快速成人口腔健康评估（REALD-30）来衡量照顾者的文化程度。结果衡量标准包括口腔健康知识、口腔健康行为、主要照顾者对其子女口腔健康状况的报告以及经过培训和校准的检查人员进行临床检查所确定的儿童临床口腔健康状况。
在纳入的 106 对照顾者-儿童中，59%的儿童为男性，52%为白人，86%的照顾者为子女的亲生母亲。单变量结果显示，文化程度与口腔健康知识（P=.16）和行为（P=.24）之间没有显著关系；然而，文化程度与口腔健康状况之间存在关联（P<.05）。多元分析控制了种族和收入；该分析显示，照顾者文化程度得分与使用标准化临床检查确定的临床口腔健康状况之间存在显著关系。有轻度至中度治疗需求的儿童的照顾者比有严重治疗需求的儿童更有可能具有较高的 REALD-30 分数（比值比：1.14[95%置信区间：1.05-1.25]；P=.003）。
照顾者的文化程度与儿童的牙齿疾病状况显著相关。
