title: Early childhood caries and its relationship with perinatal, socioeconomic and nutritional risks: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Socioeconomic, perinatal and other life cycle events can be important determinants of the health status of the individual and populations. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC), perinatal factors (gestational age, teenage pregnancy and birth weight), family income and nutritional risk in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study in which 320 children were examined according to the criteria established by the World Health Organization. A previously validated questionnaire was used to obtain information from parents and guardians about family income, gestational age and birth weight. To check the nutritional risk, we used the criteria provided by the CDC (Center for Disease Control). For Statistics, Pearson's, chi-square and the multivariate Poisson analyses were used to determine the association among variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately 20% of children had ECC, and the Poisson multivariate analyses indicated that family income (p = 0.009), birth weight (p < 0.001) and infant obesity (p < 0.001) were related to the increase of ECC, and gestational age was not significantly associated with ECC (p = 0.149). Pregnancy in adolescence was not included in the regression analyses model because it was not statistically significant in the chi-square test (p > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of ECC was related to low family income, premature birth and infant obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. valdeciodonto@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Valdeci Elias
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: dos Santos Junior
authors.forename: Rebeca Maria Brasileiro
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: de Sousa
authors.forename: Maria Cecília
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Arnaldo França
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: de Caldas Junior
authors.forename: Aronita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenblatt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001724:Birth Weight; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class