Department of Child Dental Health, Faculty of Dental Sciences, College of Medicine University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
Department of Oral Pathology, Radiology and Medicine, College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
JDR Clin Trans Res. 2022 Apr;7(2):154-162. doi: 10.1177/23800844211002108. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
Malnutrition in children is one of the most prevalent global health challenges, and malnourished children have a higher risk of death from childhood diseases. Early childhood caries (ECC) is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Complications from ECC such as pain, loss of tooth/teeth, and infection can undermine a child's nutrition and growth.
This study aims to evaluate the severity of decay, missing, and filled tooth (dmft) by nutritional status using the scores of the anthropometric measurements: height for age (HFA), weight for age (WFA), weight for height (WFH), and body mass index for age (BMIA) among children with ECC in Nigeria.
This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 5 local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used.
A total of 273 cases of ECC were included in the analyses (mean age 4.19 ± 0.96 y). Overall, the mean dmft was 3.04 ± 2.28, and most (96%) were accounted for by untreated decay. The distribution of dmft within the different score categories of BMIA (<-3 = severely wasted, -2 to -3 = wasted, -2 to +2 = normal, +2 to +3 = overweight and >+3 = obese) showed the highest dmft scores among the combined severely wasted and wasted groups, lowest among children with normal scores, and intermediate in the overweight and obese groups. There was a significant negative correlation between BMIA score, WFH score, and dmft ( = -0.181, < 0.05 and = -0.143, < 0.05, respectively). However, the correlations between HFA score, WFA score, and dmft were positive but not significant ( = 0.048, = 0.44 and = 0.022, = 0.77, respectively).
Our study showed an increased severity of dental caries among severely wasted or wasted children with ECC compared to those of normal or overweight.
The results from this study will raise awareness among clinicians and policy makers on the need for a primary prevention program for early childhood caries in countries with high burden of malnutrition and limited resources. Also, it will help draw the attention of clinicians to the caries status of malnourished children that can be managed to improve the nutritional outcomes.
儿童营养不良是全球最普遍的健康挑战之一，营养不良的儿童因儿童疾病而死亡的风险更高。幼儿龋病（ECC）是儿童最常见的慢性疾病。ECC 引起的疼痛、牙齿缺失和感染等并发症会损害儿童的营养和生长。
本研究旨在评估尼日利亚 ECC 儿童的营养状况，使用人体测量指标的分数来评估龋齿、缺失和填充牙（dmft）的严重程度，这些指标包括年龄别身高（HFA）、年龄别体重（WFA）、身高别体重（WFH）和年龄别体重指数（BMIA）。
这是一项在尼日利亚拉各斯州五个地方政府区（LGAs）进行的横断面研究。采用多阶段抽样技术。
共有 273 例 ECC 病例纳入分析（平均年龄 4.19±0.96 岁）。总体而言，平均 dmft 为 3.04±2.28，其中未治疗的龋齿占 96%。在不同的 BMI 得分类别（<-3=严重消瘦，-2 至-3=消瘦，-2 至+2=正常，+2 至+3=超重，>+3=肥胖）中，dmft 的分布显示消瘦和严重消瘦组的 dmft 评分最高，正常组的评分最低，超重和肥胖组的评分处于中间。BMIA 得分、WFH 得分与 dmft 之间呈显著负相关（=-0.181，<0.05 和=-0.143，<0.05）。然而，HFA 得分和 WFA 得分与 dmft 之间的相关性呈正相关，但无统计学意义（=0.048，=0.44 和=0.022，=0.77）。
我们的研究表明，与正常或超重的 ECC 儿童相比，严重消瘦或消瘦的 ECC 儿童的龋齿严重程度更高。
本研究结果将引起临床医生和决策者对高营养不良负担和资源有限国家开展幼儿龋病一级预防计划的重视。它还将帮助临床医生关注营养不良儿童的龋齿状况，以便改善营养状况。
