Association between dental caries and central, peripheral and general obesity: findings from a Chinese birth cohort

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although there has been considerable research into the relationship between dental caries experience and obesity, the results remain inconclusive. AIM: To investigate the relationship between dental caries experience and three adiposity indices: waist-hip ratio (WHR), triceps skin fold thickness (TRSKF), and body mass index (BMI). DESIGN: A random sample of 668, 12-year-old children from the ‘Children of 1997’ birth cohort in Hong Kong was recruited. Clinical assessment for dental caries (DMFS) was conducted. Anthropometries for height, weight, waist and hip circumference, and TRSKF were performed. Children with DMFS >/=3 were defined as ‘high caries experience’ and those with DMFS <3 as ‘low caries experience’. Probabilities of developing high caries experience were examined through logistic regression analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and idiographic cases were produced to assess the discriminatory performance. RESULTS: The response rate was 76.9% (n = 514). The results of logistic regression analyses showed a significant association in high DMFS according to the children’s WHR (OR = 1441.31, P = 0.008) and TRSKF (OR = 1.04, P = 0.22). The ROC curve proved that the area under the curve was 0.65 (0.57–0.72, SE = 0.04, P = 0.001). Idiographic cases of high DMFS among different groups demonstrated fair matchings with expected cases (P = 0.25). CONCLUSIONS: While the occurrence of high levels of dental caries was positively associated with WHR and TRSKF within the ‘Children of 1997’ at 12 years of age, WHR had a stronger association than TRSKF with high caries experience.