[Eating and life style habits in primary school student population from Mataro (Barcelona) associated with consumption of sugar and TV watching]. / Hábitos de vida en una población escolar de Mataró (Barcelona) asociados al número de veces diarias que se ve televisión y al consumo de azúcares.

BACKGROUND: Most important trends of knowledge and behaviour are built on childhood and adolescence. Thus, to act on non healthy habits at early ages should have more impact in the development of later diseases. METHODS: 2,898 primary school students answered a written self administered questionnaire containing items about Dietary habits life-style habits, and familiar socioeconomic level. Cluster analysis was used to obtain the profile of student groups with higher probabilities to develop the risk habits studied. RESULTS: High consumption of television is associated with older ages, refreshments intake, and moderate consumption of sugar. On the other hand, high consumption of sugar is associated with older ages, usual intake of candies, type of school, low intake of raw vegetables, and low consumption of fruits. CONCLUSIONS: Other non healthy dietary and lifestyle habits show clustering in high consumers of television and/or sugar. The influence of socioeconomic level on getting risk habits is well stated; however, the role played by this variable in the results of our study remains uncertain, probably due to the utilization of indirect data. The resultants profiles suggest that the presence of some non healthy lifestyle habits, such as high television and sugar consumption, tends to cluster other risk habits in the same person.

[Effect of caries prevention using fluorinated mouth washes. Results of a non-randomized field test after 7 years' follow-up]. / Efecto de la prevención de caries mediante enjuagues fluorados. Resultados de un ensayo de campo no randomizado a los 7 años de seguimiento.

A non-random field test has been run for ascertaining the effectiveness of a cavity prevention program among all the public school students in Mataró. The group under study was comprised of 288 elementary school children (5-6 years of age), on whom rinses of 0.2% FNa were used every two weeks, and the control group, comprised of 167 children, students at private schools not participating in the program. Both groups have been monitored for 7 years (up to the 8th grade) and the number of their cavities compared. A 24% reduction in the net Annual Cavity Rate (broken-down according to sex) has been observed. At the end of the study, only 5% of the control group was Cavity free, as compared to 17.3% of those who had used groups used the fluoride rinses. The differences between the two groups remain statistically significant on taking into account the effect of other factors such as the sex of the individuals in question and some personal care habits.