title: Apgar score and dental caries risk in the primary dentition of five year olds.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Conditions in utero and early life underlie risk for several childhood disorders. This study tested the hypothesis that the Apgar score predicted dental caries in the primary dentition.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study conducted in 2003 examined associations between conditions at birth and early life with dental caries experience at five years. Dental examination data for a random sample of five-year-old South Australian children were obtained from School Dental Service electronic records. A questionnaire mailed to the parents obtained information about neonatal status at delivery (five-minute Apgar score, birthweight, plurality, gestational age) and details about birth order, weaning, and behavioural, familial and sociodemographic characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1398 sampled children with a completed questionnaire (response rate=64.6%), 1058 were singleton term deliveries among whom prevalence of dental caries was 40.1%. In weighted log-binomial regression analysis, children with an Apgar score of <=8 relative to a score of 9-10 had greater probability of dental caries in the primary dentition after adjusting for sociodemographic and behavioural covariates and water fluoridation concentration (adjusted PR=1.47, 95% CI=1.11, 1.95).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Readily accessible markers of early life, such as the Apgar score, may guide clinicians in identifying children at potentially heightened risk for dental caries and aid decision-making in allocating preventive services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dental Ecology, School of Dentistry, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. anne_sanders@dentistry.unc.edu
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Slade
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001034:Apgar Score; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001722:Birth Order; D001724:Birth Weight; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003733:Dental Caries Susceptibility / Q000502:physiology*; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005457:Fluoridation; D005459:Fluorides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D035781:Siblings; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology*; D014099:Toothbrushing; D014886:Weaning; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D005459:Fluorides