Body mass index, oral health status and OHRQoL among special health care needs children and parenting stress: a case-control study in Southern Saudi Arabia.

The appropriateness for determining Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of special children by their caregivers must be thoroughly assessed. The present study was conducted to assess the Oral health related quality of life of children with disability and the stress levels of their parents. Moreover, the study also evaluated the plaque, DMFT (Decayed, missing, filled teeth) and BMI (Body Mass Index) of disabled children (cases) and healthy children (controls). The present case-control study was carried out on 150 parents of disabled children and 30 parents of healthy children (control group) at King Khalid University, Abha, KSA. The Arabic version of the 36-item parenting stress index-short format (PSI-SF) instrument was used for the assessment of parental stress, and the WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version) Arabic version questionnaire was used for the assessment of quality of life of children. The parents or the caregivers who would be mainly occupied in assisting and rendering care to their children with different disabilities (certified by a pediatrician, aged between 4-14 years), were included in the study. Data were analyzed using statistical software. The total mean value score of the PSI scale of parents of cases was statistically found to be significantly higher compared to the mean scores among parents of controls (p = 0.004). The correlation between BMI and plaque & BMI and DMFT+df of cases indicated no statistically significant correlation while a statistically significant correlation between plaque and DMFT+df values in cases was observed. The mean score of the social relationship domain was statistically significantly different across the four levels of parents' educational status. The severity of dental caries, plaque accumulation and education-level of caregivers had a significant impact on the OHRQoL, however, BMI did not show a significant relation with DMFT and plaque scores. The parenting stress was found to be statistically higher among the parents of cases compared to the parents of controls.

Incidence of non-syndromic orofacial cleft during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: This is the first national study to investigate the incidence of non-syndromic oro-facial clefts (NSOFC) and Pierre-Robin-Sequence in Saudi Arabia over the Covid-19 pandemic period. METHODS: All maternity hospitals (30-hospitals) in the major regions and cities of Saudi from November 2020-to-2021 were included in the study. Patients were evaluated for cleft phenotype using the LASHAL-classification system. The incidence of NSOFC in Saudi Arabia was calculated by comparing the number of NSOFCs cases born out of all live births during the study period at the included hospitals. Clinical examination was performed and information was gathered using a validated data collection form. RESULTS: In one year, 140,380 live-infants were born at the selected hospitals. Of these, 177 were diagnosed with NSOFC giving an incidence of 1.26/1,000 live-births in Saudi Arabia and the highest incidence in Medina city (2.46/1000 live-births). The incidence of cleft lip-and-palate (0.67/1000 live-births) was higher than that of cleft-palate (0.37/1000 live-births) and cleft-lip (0.22/1000 live-births). Pierre-Robin Sequence incidence was (0.04/1000 live-births). There were 21(12.1) or 23(13.2%) of NSOFC's mothers exposed or vaccinated with Covid-19, respectively. CONCLUSION: The national incidence of NSOFC in Saudi Arabia was 1.26/1000 live births with variation between phenotypes and regions in the country. In addition, to reporting Covid-19 infection prevalence and vaccine exposure among NSOFC's mothers, this study represents the first of its type to evaluate NSOFC prevalence in Saudi Arabia on a national level.