title: Effect of Family Structure and Behavioral and Eyesight Problems on Caries Severity in Pupils by Using an Ordinal Logistic Model.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental caries is one of the most preventable yet prevalent chronic diseases worldwide. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of family structure and behavioral and eyesight problems as they relate to caries severity in schoolchildren.
  
  
  METHODS
  This research was carried out on 845 primary schoolchildren aged 9 yr in Kerman, Iran, in 2012. Ten variables, including health records, family structure information and a dmft/DMFT index, were collected. Children were categorized into three groups based on the WHO caries severity classification. Low caries level was defined as dmft/DMFT<2.6, moderate as dmft/DMFT of 2.7-4.4 and high as dmft/DMFT>4.4. The Cochran-Armitage test and ordinal logistic regression were employed for data analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost half of pupils had moderate or high caries severity. The odds of being in a higher caries severity category in pupils with behavioral problems (OR=2.37, 95% CI: 1.29-4.38) and girls (OR=1.6, 95% CI: 1.22-2.06) were higher than in other categories. In addition, pupils with eyesight problems (OR=0.58, 95% CI: 0.37-0.90) and overweight pupils (OR=0.46, 95% CI: 0.31-0.71) had lower caries severity than others. The effects of parents' education, birth rank, living with parents and consanguineous relationship between parents were not significant on caries severity (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Female pupils with behavioral problems were at a higher risk of caries severity than other pupils. These pupils need to be educated and coached on proper dental care. In addition, overweight pupils and those with eyesight problems had less caries severity than others. Family structure in this study did not have an effect on the severity of dental caries.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Yunes
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jahani
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Eshraghian
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rahimi Foroushani
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Keramat
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nourijelyani
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mohammad
authors.affiliation: Kerman Oral and Dental Diseases Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shahravan
authors.affiliation: Youth and Schools Health Unit, Deputy of Hygiene, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alam
keywords: Behavioral problems; Caries severity; Family structure; Ordinal logistic regression; Schoolchildren