Factors Associated with Early Childhood Caries Incidence among African-American Children in Alabama

Objectives—To assess the relationships between different behavioral factors and Early Childhood Caries (ECC) in African-American pre-school children. Methods—Ninety-six African-American children aged 3 to 22 months old at baseline were recruited by word of mouth from Uniontown, Alabama, a non-fluoridated community. The children had dental examinations annually following World Health Organization (WHO) criteria at baseline, 1st, 2nd and 3rd follow-up. Parents provided detailed oral hygiene and dietary information every six months by completing questionnaires. Cumulative calculations using area-under-thecurve (AUC) were made for all the independent variables that were assessed at the follow-up questionnaires. Bivariate and multivariable relationships between ECC incidence and different behavioral risk factors were assessed using logistic regression for dichotomous dependent variables and negative binomial modeling for count dependent variables. Independent variables were defined at baseline, as the AUC and at 2nd follow-up. Results—Ninety-nine percent of the children consumed sugar-added beverages by the time of the 2nd follow-up visit. Increased frequency of toothbrushing and increased AUC composite of daily HHS Public Access Author manuscript Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 August 01. Published in final edited form as: Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2015 August ; 43(4): 366–374. doi:10.1111/cdoe.12161. A uhor M anscript