Relações familiares, saúde bucal e fatores sociais em crianças pré-escolares mineiras

Abstract

Family relationships play an important role in child development and can influence healthy behaviors that have repercussions into adulthood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between socioeconomic, behavioral, psychosocial and oral health factors with family relationships of preschool children in the city of São Francisco, northern region of Minas Gerais. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a representative sample of 247 5-year-old children and their mothers. Data were collected from validated self-administered questionnaires addressed to mothers, and intraoral examinations in children through the decayed-missing-filled primary teeth (dmft) index. Family relationships were assessed using the Family Cohesion (FC) scale, which represents the degree of unity between family members. SPSS software was used for bivariate and multinomial logistic regression analysis, with a significance level of 5%. The average FC was considered as the reference category and the variables with p<0.25 for at least one of the categories (high or low FC) were included in the final model. In the bivariate analysis, dental caries experience was associated with high FC; and the variables associated with low FC were maternal education, marital status, maternal nocturnal oral cleaning and caries experience. In the final model, families with high FC were more likely to have no maternal paid work [3.56 (1.12-11.31), p=0.031] and less likely to experience caries [0.32 (0.11- 0.96), p=0.042]; while families with low FC were more likely to have an unmarried maternal marital status [2.34 (1.02-5.36), p=0.045]. Thus, socioeconomic and oral health variables were associated with the family cohesion of 5-year-old children and their mothers, demonstrating the need for participatory and comprehensive care for the family, in addition to intersectoral social public policies for health promotion and well-being of children.