Child- and family impacts of infants’ oral conditions in Tanzania and Uganda– a cross sectional study

Abstract

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.

Impact of oral hygiene on oral health‐related quality of life of preschool children

“…Therefore, interventional programmes on oral health promotion of preschool children should be emphasized. Like a previous Iranian study (7), the mean F-ECOHIS, child impact and family impact scores of children in our study were higher than those in the other countries (29,30) even though our scores ranged from 13 to 65 vs. 0 to 52 used by those studies.…”

Impact of Developmental enamel defects on quality of life in 5‐year‐old children

“…Few studies have evaluated DDE's impact on the quality of life of pre-schoolers. [15][16][17][18]25 Methodological differences related to the quality-of-life instruments used, the teeth evaluated, and the type of analyses makes it difficult to compare the results of previous studies with the present investigation. The results of these studies on the impact of DDE in OHRQoL are divergent, and they only show the perception from parents or guardians using specific questionnaires that do not show the impact on quality of life related to general health.…”

“…18 Other study with children of the Uganda and Tanzania showed 1.7 and 1.8 more times negative impact of the enamel hypoplasia on OHRQoL, respectively. 17 Furthermore, the negative impact of the presence of DDE on the OHRQoL, according to the self-report, has been observed in studies assessing school-age individuals. 10,24 In assessing the impact of the types of DDE on the quality of life of pre-schoolers, enamel hypoplasia was associated with worsened quality of life according to the children's reports in social aspect and overall score.…”

“…13,14 Few studies have evaluated the impact of DDE on the OHRQoL of pre-schoolers. [15][16][17][18] These studies did not use questionnaires about general aspects of health, nor did they assess the perception of children. Knowledge of DDE epidemiology and the impact on quality of life can be used to take a preventive action to minimize damage, control associated factors, determine treatment needs and evaluate the results of implemented strategies.…”

Influences on preschool children's oral health‐related quality of life as reported by English and Spanish‐speaking parents and caregivers

“…The development of age-specific instruments (8)(9)(10)(11) was followed by reports of OHRQoL estimates in patient and community-based samples, correlates, longitudinal changes, and responses to treatment. However, few studies have included children younger than 3 years of age (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).…”