Prevalence of severe early childhood caries and associated socioeconomic and behavioral factors in Xinjiang, China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundThis study assessed the prevalence and severity of early childhood caries (ECC) and identified socioeconomic and behavioral correlates of the disease in preschool children living in Xinjiang.MethodsFor this cross-sectional survey, 1727 children aged 3–5 years in Xinjiang were randomly recruited using a three-stage cluster sampling procedure. The “dmft” index according to the WHO 1997 criteria was used to assess ECC and severe ECC (S-ECC). A questionnaire was completed by caregivers. Variables included sociodemographic characteristics, dietary and oral hygiene behaviors, and access to dental services. The statistical associations of variables with ECC, S-ECC, and dmft were evaluated by univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe prevalence of ECC was 78.2% and that of S-ECC was 41.2%; mean dmft scores were 5.61 ± 3.56 and 8.17 ± 2.94, respectively. The prevalence of ECC was significantly higher in children from Ining (OR 2.747; 95% CI 2.033–3.713), those whose caregivers had caries (OR 1.78; 95% CI 1.245–2.547), those with a dental visit in the past (OR 2.023; 95% CI 1.429–2.865), and those whose parents had received instructions on oral health care (OR 2.171; 95% CI 1.44–3.272), and increased significantly at age 4 years (OR 2.09; 95% CI 1.506–2.901) and 5 years (OR 2.666; 95% CI 1.855–3.833) and in children who starting tooth brushing at a young age (OR 1.363; 95% CI 1.171–1.587), and decreased significantly in children with a more educated mother (OR 0.817; 95% CI 0.688–1), those from high-income families (OR 0.667; 95% CI 0.582–0.765), those with low consumption of sweets (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.57–0.763), and those who seldom ate before sleep (OR 0.557; 95% CI 0.437–0.712).ConclusionsECC and S-ECC remain a serious problem among preschool children in Xinjiang. Caries rates were associated with sociodemographic and behavioral factors, which could be modified by public health strategies, including protection of primary dentition, extension of insurance to cover oral preventive services, improvement of the oral health care system, and public health education.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12903-017-0432-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Association of Environmental Tobacco Smoke with the Risk of Severe Early Childhood Caries among 3-Year-Old Japanese Children

“…The results of this study were in accordance with several previous studies [Schroth et al, 2013a;Li et al, 2017;Peres et al, 2017]. In Japan, "no residence tax" means low household income.…”

“…Some previous studies in developing countries reported that risk factors associated with S-ECC were frequent or prolonged breastfeeding [Özen et al, 2016;Feldens et al, 2018], socioeconomic status [Schroth et al, 2013a;Li et al, 2017;Peres et al, 2017], not having help with brushing [Turton et al, 2016;Mangla et al, 2017], and snacking habits [Evans et al, 2013;Mangla et al, 2017;Peres et al, 2017;Sun et al, 2017]. However, it is unclear whether these risk factors for S-ECC are similarly associated with S-ECC in developed countries.…”

Prevalence of early childhood caries among 5‐year‐old children: A systematic review

“…Contradictorily, Korea and Hong Kong had very high HDI scores, but their caries prevalence was high (>50%) compared with their counterparts in Europe. Furthermore, 11 studies in Asia reported mean dmft scores equivalent to or higher than 3 . It is noteworthy that the HDI can indicate only the development level of the entire country, and that the socioeconomic status of an individual city or district cannot be reflected in this index, which is a limitation of the present review.…”

“…An initial screening of the title and abstract revealed that 551 articles were duplicates and 1707 articles did not meet the inclusion criteria. Full texts of the remaining 152 articles were assessed, and 37 studies were included in the present study . No additional publications were identified from the bibliography of these 152 articles.…”

“…The included publications described the dental caries situations of the 5-year-old children in 16 countries/districts from six continents. Most of the studies were conducted in Asia (N = 20, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand), [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] Europe (N = 7, Greece, Germany, Italy, and UK), [41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and in South America (N = 6, Brazil). [48][49][50][51][52][53] Two studies conducted in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and Turkey), 54,55 one in Africa (Sudan), 56 and one in Oceania (Australia) 57 were included.…”