BackgroundSelf-perception of oral health status is a multidimensional construct that includes psychological, psychosocial and functional aspects of oral health. Contemporary concepts suggest that the evaluation of health needs should focus on clinical standards and socio-dental indicators that measure the impact of health/disease on the individual quality of life. Oral health cannot be dissociated from general health. This study evaluates a possible association between oral health status, body size, self-perception of oral health, self-perception of body size and dissatisfaction with body image in prepubertal children with mixed dentition, targeting the completion of children’s health status assessment which will further allow the identification of individuals at risk and could be further used as an evaluation of the need for specific interventions.MethodsThe present study is cross-sectional in design and uses data from 710 pre-pubertal children with mixed dentition. The outcome variables comprised one item self-perception of oral health: dmft/DMFT Index and Dental Aesthetic Index, body size, self-assessed body size and desired body size. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. The level of significance was set at 5%.ResultsMore than a half (53.1%) of the participants with mixed dentition reported that their oral health was excellent or very good. In the unadjusted model, untreated decayed teeth, dmft score and body dissatisfaction levels had a significant contribution to poor self-perception of oral health, but after adjustment for gender, BMI status, dmft score, DMFT score and DAI score, only untreated decayed teeth OR = 1.293, 95%CI (1.120–1.492) and higher body dissatisfaction levels had a significant contribution.ConclusionIt was concluded that the need for dental treatment influenced self-perception of oral health in prepubertal children with mixed dentition, especially with relation to untreated decayed teeth. Since only body dissatisfaction levels, but not BMI, were related to poor self-perception of oral health, which involves a psychological component, further studies should evaluate the risk factors of body dissatisfaction, in order to plan health care directed to this age group, and with the purpose to positive parenting strategies.

Background Nutritional knowledge assessment is an important component in nutrition research, and a prerequisite for the implementation of many policies and programs aimed at improving eating behavior. In order to generate objective results, validated tools for a given population must be employed. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of a nutrition knowledge questionnaire for Romanian adults. Methods Kleimann's version of a General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire, was translated and adapted to Romanian language, culture, and cuisine. The final format was developed in several steps and used four components: internal and external reliability were assessed in a general population sample (n1 = 412), respectively in a subgroup (n2 = 46) from Component 1; Component 3 assessed construct validity (n3 = 96) using the "known-groups" method; Component 4 (convergent validity, n4 = 508) tested the association between socio-demographic characteristics and nutrition knowledge. Results The overall internal reliability was 0.878 and the external reliability was >0.880 in all sections, and overall. Specialists had higher scores than nonspecialists, with a very large effect size. In the general population, females scored higher than males, and middle-aged and older adults scored higher than young adults. Higher scores were associated with higher levels of education. The characteristics of individuals prone to giving wrong answers were: males (beta = 0.170), high school or less (beta = 0.167), and no training in nutrition (beta = 0.154). Conclusions The Romanian version of the General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for measuring nutrition knowledge in adults.

This study assessed potential differences in estimating short-term dietary intake of energy and nutrients and food consumption, between 4-week food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and 7-day food records in Romanian adults. Patients and Methods: A total of 116 participants (age range 18-74 years, 31% males and 28.4% of participants being overweight and obese) were recruited. Estimates for energy and macro-and micronutrient intakes, and food group intakes were compared between the two methods using Wilcoxon-sign-rank test, correlation coefficients, Cohen's Kappa, Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement, and quartile classifications. Results: Cohen's Kappa values for energy and macronutrient intakes indicated moderate agreement, ranging from 0.402 (protein) to 0.470 (fat), fair agreement for most micronutrients (0.2-0.4) and poor agreement for most food groups (<0.2). When data were crossclassified into quartiles for energy and macronutrients, about 58% of participants were cross-classified in the same quartile using both methods, while 33% of participants were cross-classified in adjacent quartiles of one method versus the other. Micronutrients (such Na, Mg, Ca, K, Fe, vitamins) had the highest degree of misclassification, on average 40% being cross-classified in the same quartile and another 40% in adjacent quartiles. Bland-Altman plots suggested that both methods were comparable for energy and all macronutrients. When the consumption of food groups was compared, correlation coefficients between methods ranged from 0.09 (legumes) to 0.26 (whole grain), indicating poor correlation. Conclusion:These results showed that the relative match of a standard FFQ, as compared to the 7-day food records, was moderate in estimating macronutrient and energy, fair for most micronutrient intakes and poor for others and as for food groups.

Negative emotions and chronic stress trigger abnormal compensatory behaviors known as emotional eating (EE). EE is a well-known mediator for increased body mass index and weight gain. Our aim was to analyze the factor structure and validity and reliability of the Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) in a sample of 200 Romanian adults with excess weight. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess the construct validity. The mindful eating questionnaire (MEQ) was used to test concurrent validity. Cronbach’s alpha and Spearman correlations were used to analyze internal and external reliability. The socio-demographic characteristics were used as factors for convergent validity. PCA revealed the existence of three major factors, disinhibition, type of food, and guilt, which accounted for 64.9% of the variance. Concurrent validity showed medium to large associations with MEQ (r = 0.650; p < 0.001) and a large association with the emotional subscale of MEQ (r = 0.732; p < 0.001). Reliability was adequate with Cronbach’s alfa = 0.841 and ICC = 0.775. In a multivariate model, the highest contribution to the EE score was the age (beta = −0.327), followed by feminine gender (beta = 0.321), high levels of perceived stress (beta = 0.215), BMI (beta = 0.184) and lower perceived health status (beta = 0.184). The Romanian version of the EEQ is a reliable and valid tool for measuring emotional eating in adults with excess weight.

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