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Association between body mass index and caries among children and adolescents
Author(s) -
Lempert Susanne M.,
Froberg Karsten,
Christensen Lisa B.,
Kristensen Peter L.,
Heitmann Berit L.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/cdoe.12055
Subject(s) - medicine , overweight , body mass index , danish , demography , association (psychology) , early childhood caries , dentistry , oral health , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology , sociology
Objective The aim of this article was to examine the relationship between childhood caries, body mass index ( BMI ) and subsequent changes in BMI over 6 years, and to investigate whether these associations were modified by social class. Methods Data were from the European Youth Heart Study ( EYHS ) merged with data on caries experience from the Danish National Board of Health, ( SCOR register). Results At baseline, 26.2% of the children/adolescents were caries free and 39% at follow‐up. A larger percentage of normal weight children/adolescents were caries free, compared with the overweight/obese group of children/adolescents. The linear regression analysis showed that childhood caries was generally not associated with either BMI or subsequent changes in BMI . However, among children whose mothers were well educated, there was an inverse association between caries at baseline and subsequent changes in BMI over a period of 6 years, for example, a high caries experience was associated with a smaller increment in BMI , compared with the group of children with a low caries experience. No association was found for those with lower SES . Conclusion An inverse association between caries and subsequent changes in BMI was found, but only among children with well‐educated mothers, suggesting that high caries experience may be a marker for low future risk of overweight among the more advantaged. Associations did not appear to be significant among the less advantaged; however, numbers in this group were low, and an association may have been overlooked. Hence, more studies are needed to confirm these findings.