Study objective: To investigate the effect of recall on estimation of non-fatal injury rates in Tanzania. Design: Retrospective population based survey. Setting: Eight branches in an urban area and six villages in a relatively prosperous rural area in Tanzania. Subjects: Individuals of all ages living in households selected by cluster sampling. Main outcome measures: Estimated non-fatal injury rates calculated at each of the 12 recall periods (one to 12 months before the interview). Results: Out of a population of 15 223 persons, 509 individuals reported 516 injuries during the preceding year. Of these 313 (61.5%) were males and 196 (38.5%) females. The data showed notable declining incidence rates from 72 per 1000 person-years when based on a one month recall period to 32.7 per 1000 person-years for a 12 month recall period (55% decline). The decline was found for injuries resulting in fewer than 30 days of disability whereas rates for severe injuries (disability of 30 days or more) did not show a consistent variation with recall period. Decline in injury rates by recall period was higher in rural than in urban areas. Age, sex, and education did not notably affect recall. Conclusions: Longer recall periods underestimate injury rates compared with shorter recall periods. For severe injuries, a recall period of up to 12 months does not affect the rate estimates. It is essential that a recall period of less than three months be used to calculate injury rates for less severe injuries.

It is important to maintain the low prevalence of caries among children by increasing awareness and promoting oral health care strategies.

BackgroundEarly childhood dental caries impacts on the quality of life of children and their families. This study set out to assess the psychometric properties of an oral health related quality of life, OHRQoL, measure, based on items emanating from the Child-and Family impact sections of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS), in Kiswahili and Luganda speaking communities. It was hypothesized that the Child- and Family impact scores would discriminate between children with and without clinically defined dental problems and reported good and bad oral health.MethodKiswahili and Luganda versions of the Child- and Family impact scores were derived through translation in pilot studies. Totals of 1221 and 816 child/caretaker pairs attending health care facilities in Manyara, Tanzania and Kampala, Uganda, were recruited into the study. After caretakers completed the interview, their children underwent oral clinical examination.ResultsInternal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) was > 0.80 with respect to the Child impact score and 0.79 regarding the Family impact score. Multiple variable logistic- and Poisson regression analyses revealed that the Kiswahili and Luganda versions of the Child- and Family impact score associated in the expected direction with child’s oral diseases as with their reported health and oral health status. In Manyara, multiple logistic regression revealed that the ORs of reporting Child impacts were 1.8 (95% CI 1.0-3.4) and 2.2 (1.3-3.4) among caretakers who confirmed linear hypoplasia and teething symptoms, respectively. In Kampala, the ORs for reporting Child impacts were 2.3 (95% CI 1.3-3.9), 1.7 (95% CI 1.1-2.5), 1.6 (95% CI 1.2-2.3) and 2.7 (95% CI 1.3-5.8) among those who confirmed teeth present, hypoplasia, teething symptoms and tooth bud extractions, respectively. The odds ratios for reporting Family impacts were 2.7 (95% CI 1.5-4.7), 1.5 (95% CI 1.1- 2.1) and 4.6 (95% CI 2.0-10.7) if reporting LEH, teething symptoms and toothbud experience, respectively.ConclusionThe Child and Family impact scores demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability and reproducibility whereas the discriminative validity was more ambiguous. The OHRQoL scores should be developed further and tested among Kiswahili and Luganda speaking caretakers.

While primary schoolteachers' sources for oral health education information was mainly textbooks and from a dental clinic, the source of teaching materials was largely a District Dental Officer. Details on the particular sources were not sought and further studies are therefore required. However, the findings highlight a need for standardised and equally distributed oral health material sources both for valid information and for teaching in schools.

Snusbruk og holdninger til snusResultater fra en spørreskjemaundersøkelse utført ved Universitetet i Bergen og Norges Handelshøyskole Forfattere Anne Nordrehaug Åstrøm, professor, dr.odont. Odontologisk institutt -Fagområdet samfunnsodontologi Linh Bui, stud. odont. Helene Laeknes, stud. odont. Anne Christine Johannessen, professor, dr.odont., cand.med. Odontologisk institutt-Oral patologi og rettsodontologi Nils Roar Gjerdet, professor, dr.odont. Odontologisk institutt -Odontologiske Biomaterialer Samtlige er tilknyttet Det odontologiske fakultet, Universitetet i Bergen Artikkelen er basert på data samlet inn i forbindelse med to studentstipend ved Det odontologiske fakultet, UiB