ArticleBMC oral health2024
Oral health status and factors associated with oral health of primary school children in Gulu district, northern Uganda.
Article in BMC oral health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGlobally, oral diseases remain a major public health problem. However, there is limited information about the oral health status and factors associated with oral disease among children in Uganda. The aim of this study was to examine the oral health status and factors associated with oral health of primary school children in urban and rural areas of the Gulu district of northern Uganda.
methodsA comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 356 school children aged 11-13 years attending six schools located in urban and rural areas. The children received a clinical oral examination and participated in a questionnaire survey that collected information on sociodemographic and oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices. All data were entered and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp statistical software. Logistic regression analyses examined factors associated with dental caries and gingival bleeding.
resultsOf the 356 children (11-13 years) included, the mean age was 12.2 years, 140 (39.3%) were male and 176 (49.4%) were from urban areas. The proportion of school children with dental caries was 33.6% (n = 119), with the mean decayed, missing due to caries, and filled teeth (DMFT) index of 0.81 (25th percentile = 0; 75th percentile = 1.00). There was no significant difference in caries prevalence between rural and urban children (31.6% versus 35.6%, p = 0.33). Of the children involved in the study, 141(39.8%) had gum bleeding. The mean oral knowledge score was 2.85 ± 1.53 (range, 0-7), while the mean attitude, hygiene practice, frequency of sweets consumption, and oral health related impact scores were 4.25 ± 1.23 (range, 1-6), 5.40 ± 1.81 (range, 0-9), 25.66 ± 4.29 (range 9-54) and 2.1 ± 1.65 (range, 0-6), respectively. Using logistic regression analyses, as oral health knowledge score increased the odds of not having dental caries increased (aOR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.02-1.39).
conclusionThe prevalence of dental caries and gum bleeding of primary school children in Gulu district is high. Children lacked knowledge on causes of oral disease, and behaviour towards oral disease prevention. In addition, oral health knowledge scores were significantly associated with dental caries. Oral health education programs in schools should emphasise providing skills-based education.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.