Relationship of Personal Hygiene and BMI with OHI-S Scores among Primary School Children in a District in North India

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Malnutrition, among children can lead to various morbidities, and some of its consequences can be fatal. AIM: To assess Hygiene with Nutrition & Morbidity among school children in district Ambala, Haryana, India. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Data was collected through a health check-up program for primary school children studying in class I and class III (aged only between 6-9 years) using a pre-tested and pre-designed questionnaire, weighing scale, measuring tape and dental screening instruments. The investigators were duly standardized and concerned instruments were duly calibrated. No names and personal information was collected and before the student was sent for examination, his I-card was removed. Data cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 22.0. Shapiro wilk-test for data normalcy revealed a parametric distribution of the data and hence, the student’s t-test and multiple logistic regression were applied. RESULTS: The study included 216 males and 106 females, and the maximum unfavourable score (unclean hands, feet and skin) was observed in 40.1% of the children. Difference between favourable and unfavourable scores with OHI-S ≤2 was found to be 65.3% (p=0.02) and maximum students (68.9%), reported having a good favourable OHI-S score (p=0.01). It was observed that maximum males (43.1%) and females (48.1%) belonged to the “Normal” category of BMI, while lesser females (6.7%) were overweight in comparison to their male counterparts. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that OHI-S scores were significantly associated with BMI status (p=0.05) of the children, indicating that children with higher BMI scores have a tendency to have “fair” and “poor” OHI-S scores. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, appropriate measures can be undertaken to ensure that schools as well as healthcare professionals undertake more stringent measures to educate parents, children as well as teachers regarding the relationship between poor oral health and increased BMI values.