Relationship between Early Childhood Caries and Prolonged Coughing Episodes in a Cohort of Cambodian Children

Noureen Chowdhury; Bathsheba Turton; Tepirou Chher; Sithan Hak; Gabriela Hondru; Karen Sokal-Gutierrez

doi:10.3390/ijerph191912842

Relationship between Early Childhood Caries and Prolonged Coughing Episodes in a Cohort of Cambodian Children

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 7;19(19):12842. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912842.

Authors

Noureen Chowdhury¹, Bathsheba Turton^{1

2}, Tepirou Chher³, Sithan Hak³, Gabriela Hondru⁴, Karen Sokal-Gutierrez⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Dentistry, University of Puthisastra, Phnom Penh 120211, Cambodia.
² Office of Global and Population Health, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Bostson, MA 02118, USA.
³ Oral Health Bureau, Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, Phnom Penh 12151, Cambodia.
⁴ UNICEF Cambodia, Phnom Penh 120211, Cambodia.
⁵ School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA.

Abstract

Studies have shown an association between Early Childhood Caries (ECC) and respiratory infections; however, most have been cross-sectional, and all have been in high-income countries. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) was applied to longitudinal data from the Cambodia Health and Nutrition Monitoring Study. An analytical sample of 1703 Cambodian children between 1- and 4-years old was used to examine the effect of caries incidence (ECC Activity) on the odds of a child subsequently experiencing an episode of prolonged coughing (>14 days) over the subsequent 18 m. ECC activity occurred among 523 children (30.7%) while prolonged coughing was observed among 235 children (13.8%). ECC activity increased the risk of prolonged coughing (RR 1.23; 95% CI 0.95, 1.58; Average treatment effect = 3%). Follow-up investigations are justified in order to examine whether ECC may be a modifiable risk factor for prevention of respiratory illness among young children.

Keywords: Cambodia; early childhood caries; modifiable risk factor; prolonged coughing; respiratory tract infections.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Asian People
Child
Child, Preschool
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dental Caries Susceptibility*
Dental Caries* / epidemiology
Humans
Incidence
Infant
Prevalence

Grants and funding

The primary collection of dental data was funded by The Borrow Foundation. The Cambodia Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Study was conceived, developed and funded through UNICEF Cambodia and the French National Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD). This secondary analysis of data did not attract funding.