Malnutrition among pre-school children in Alexandria, Egypt.

The study was conducted in Alexandria, Egypt, to assess the current status of malnutrition among 1,217 pre-school children aged 6-71 months. A two-stage cluster-sampling technique was used for selecting the sample. Data on sociodemographic and environmental characteristics of the family, morbidity profiles, and breast-feeding patterns were collected from mothers of the children. Anthropometric measurements were performed, and the prevalence of malnutrition was assessed using three indicators, such as stunting, under-weight, and wasting, following the WHO guidelines and cut-off points. Simple and multiple regression analyses were done for examining the factors associated with the occurrence of malnutrition using principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation. Stunting, under-weight, and wasting were observed in 15%, 7.3%, and 3.6% of the children respectively. High-socioeconomic condition was associated with low prevalence of stunting and underweight (OR = 0.67, confidence interval (CI) = 0.55-0.8 and OR = 0.75, CI = 0.58-0.96 respectively). Good environmental condition was associated with a lower stunting rate (OR = 0.83, CI = 0.72-0.96). Increased age of child and living in a non-squatter area were associated with wasting (OR = 1.02, CI = 1.001-1.03 and OR = 0.38, CI = 0.15-0.97 respectively). Interventions to improve socioeconomic and environmental situations are recommended to reduce the already low level of protein-energy malnutrition further.

Factors influencing development of caries teeth.

A cross sectional study was conducted on the children of 146 randomly selected urban families of Abha, Saudi Arabia, to find out the common factors associated with caries teeth. The factors considered for association were per capita monthly income, sources of drinking water, consumption of soft drinks, daily brushing of teeth, daily consumption of candy, and the education levels of mothers. All children up to 12 years of age were examined by visiting their families. The results showed that the per capita monthly income, sources of drinking water and habit of drinking soft drinks had no significant relation with the prevalence rates of caries teeth in children. But the habit of nonbrushing of teeth daily, daily consumption of candies, and low or no education of mothers had significant association with the presence of caries teeth. Adequate health education of children about the ill effects of these practices and raising the educational levels of mothers and prospective mothers may contribute towards achieving dental health by the year 2000 as targetted by the World Health Organization.

Teething pattern and prevalence of dental caries.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on the children of 146 randomly selected families in Abha, Saudi Arabia. Counting of teeth and examination for caries teeth of children under 12 years of age were done by family visits. The results showed that no child developed teeth before 5 months. By 12 months there were on an average 3.3 teeth erupted per child, and by three years 18.8 teeth. At 12 years of age there were 24.4 teeth per child as compared to 28 in other countries. The DMF (decayed, missing and filled) index of children increased from 1.8 at the age of 4 to 5.1 at 7 and 5.2 at 10 years of age. The rate of caries teeth was higher than that in Australia, Great Britain, USA, India, China and Sudan. Further investigations on causes of high rate of caries teeth are recommended.