An epidemiological study of child health and nutrition in a northern Swedish county. VI. Relationship between general and oral health, food habits, and socioeconomic conditions

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Abstract
An epidemiological survey of the general and oral health and food habits of 1,401 children aged 4, 8, and 13 years has been carried out in one urban area and two rural areas in a northern Swedish county. The purpose of this study was to investigate, by means of multiple regression analysis, whether there was a connection between the children’s general and oral health, their frequency of consumption of various foods, and the socioeconomic conditions in the family. The investigation showed that socioeconomic conditions, especially the educational level of the parents, were correlated to the frequency of the children’s consumption of various foods. Among the 4-year-old urban children, better socioeconomic conditions were positively correlated to the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption, and negatively correlated to the consumption of sweets, buns and cakes between meals. For the 8-year-olds, better socioeconomic conditions were negatively correlated to, among other things, the consumption of porridge, sweets, and buns and cakes. For the 13-year-olds, better socioeconomic conditions were positively correlated to the consumption of vegetables, berries, and fish and negatively correlated to the consumption of sweets, buns and cakes. A high frequency of consumption of certain foods, such as the latter, negatively affected the caries indices and the state of oral hygiene (plaque indices). The frequent eating of some foods was correlated to certain medical and anthropometrical data. Among the food variables, frequent consumption of porridge was associated with decrease in the Hb and PCV values for the 13-year-olds. Body height or weight, as well as number of permanent teeth, affected the DMFT value. Frequent tooth brushing decreased the plaque index, except for the 4-year-olds.