Cárie dentária em pré-escolares do sul do Brasil: uma análise de idade-período-coorte

Abstract

The prevalence of dental caries in preschool children is influenced by individual and contextual factors. The effects of age, period and birth cohort have been evaluated individually and little is known about the dental caries trend in preschool children using age-period-cohort combined models. Thus, the objective of this thesis was to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries and the association with demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral and psychosocial factors, as well as to evaluate the trend in the prevalence of dental caries in preschool children, considering the age-period effects. -cohort (age-period-cohort effects). From the data collected in 2019, the prevalence of caries and the association with sociodemographic, behavioral and psychosocial factors were evaluated. Of the 545 children evaluated, 19.4% had dental caries in at least one tooth (dmft ≥1), the mean dmft value was 0.6 (sd:1.7). Data analysis used Poisson regression models with a hierarchical approach to estimate the association between dental caries and predictor variables. The results showed that children who lived only with their father or another family member, who went to the dentist and whose parents did not perceive the need for dental treatment in their children remained associated with a higher prevalence of dental caries (p<0.05). Caries trend was assessed using the three time periods and considering age-period-cohort effects. In this one, a representative sample of 1644 preschool children from Santa Maria, RS, Brazil, was selected from three surveys carried out in the years 2008, 2013 and 2019. Data were analyzed using chi-square test for trends and analysis age-period-cohort hierarchy, using the Poisson regression model to test the associations between predictor variables and dental caries. There was a significant difference in caries experience considering the effects of age, period and cohort. The age effect indicated that older children were more likely to have dental caries, the cohort effect showed a significant reduction in the prevalence of caries among those born in 2003 and 2018. Thus, although a decline in the prevalence of caries among children is observed preschool children, we observed that the level of caries increases with age, with inequalities in the distribution of the disease persisting.