title: Association between obesity, dental caries and socioeconomic status in 6- and 13-year-old school children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between dental caries, obesity and socioeconomic status (SES) in 6-and 13-yearold school children in Davangere city, Karnataka, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were obtained from a cohort of 1,550 children. Dental caries detection was performed according to the World Health Organization criteria and the medical evaluation assessed the body mass index (BMI). With appropriate sample weighting, relationships between dmft/DMFT, obesity and socioeconomic status were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test and multivariate logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of dental caries was 28.9%. The mean dmft and DMFT scores for 6-year-olds were 2.1 ± 3.75 and 0.16 ± 0.59, respectively, and corresponding values for 13-year-olds were 0.03 ± 0.19 and 0.91 ± 2.04. Of the total sample, the mean BMI was 16.56 ± 2.8. Approximately 63.4% of the children were classified as normal weight, 18.1% as overweight and 7.5% as obese. When adjusted for covariates, the logistic regression model showed that there was a significant association between overweight children (P < 0.001), obese children (P < 0.05) and caries prevalence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated a significant association between caries frequency and obesity in school children. In future preventive programmes, the importance of obesity should not only be emphasised with respect to general diseases but also with regard to carious lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, College of Dental Sciences, Karnataka, India. drsaki@sify.com
authors.forename: Basha
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sakeenabi
authors.forename: Hiremath Shivalinga
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Swamy
authors.forename: Roshan Noor
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Mohammed
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002327:Cariostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005459:Fluorides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology; D014099:Toothbrushing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014100:Toothpastes / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D002327:Cariostatic Agents; D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D014100:Toothpastes; D005459:Fluorides