IADR Abstract Archives
Dental and Orofacial Pain Symptoms and Associated Psychosocial Risk Factors in Children from the Multi-Ethnic Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) Cohort
Objectives: Pain is a unique multi-dimensional experience that usually requires a biopsychosocial approach to understand pain perception and socio-emotional problems in early childhood. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency/prevalence of dental and orofacial pains from early childhood, its associated psychosocial risk factors and impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) in an Asian multi-ethnic population.
Methods: Socio-demographic data was obtained from mothers/children recruited into the GUSTO birth cohort (N=550). Maternal reports of socio-emotional problems were obtained using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) at 4-years of age. At age 6 years we obtained the following maternal reports of outcome measures from the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale: dental/orofacial pain frequency and chronicity, and OHRQOL. All regression models for multivariate analysis were adjusted for maternal psychosocial factors.
Results: There was a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.2, and Chinese was the predominant ethnicity in the cohort (Table 1). Furthermore, 23.3% of the cohort has had pain in their lifetime (up to the age of 6) and the majority of pain symptoms were not persistent in nature (97.6%). Our statistical outcomes from the univariate and multivariate analysis are reported in Table 1 and 2, respectively. There was a significant association between both internalizing (somatization, emotionally reactive, anxiety/depression) and externalizing psychosocial problems (aggressive behaviour and attention problems) and dental/orofacial pains during childhood, which negatively affected the OHRQOL.
Conclusions: In this Asian multi-ethnic cohort, our findings revealed that increased childhood socio-emotional problems associate with higher instances of dental/orofacial pains up to age 6. Hence, early identification of pain-related socio-emotional behaviours together with the parents, may be helpful to understand pain perception and prevent detrimental effects on the OHRQOL.
Methods: Socio-demographic data was obtained from mothers/children recruited into the GUSTO birth cohort (N=550). Maternal reports of socio-emotional problems were obtained using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) at 4-years of age. At age 6 years we obtained the following maternal reports of outcome measures from the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale: dental/orofacial pain frequency and chronicity, and OHRQOL. All regression models for multivariate analysis were adjusted for maternal psychosocial factors.
Results: There was a male-to-female ratio of 1:1.2, and Chinese was the predominant ethnicity in the cohort (Table 1). Furthermore, 23.3% of the cohort has had pain in their lifetime (up to the age of 6) and the majority of pain symptoms were not persistent in nature (97.6%). Our statistical outcomes from the univariate and multivariate analysis are reported in Table 1 and 2, respectively. There was a significant association between both internalizing (somatization, emotionally reactive, anxiety/depression) and externalizing psychosocial problems (aggressive behaviour and attention problems) and dental/orofacial pains during childhood, which negatively affected the OHRQOL.
Conclusions: In this Asian multi-ethnic cohort, our findings revealed that increased childhood socio-emotional problems associate with higher instances of dental/orofacial pains up to age 6. Hence, early identification of pain-related socio-emotional behaviours together with the parents, may be helpful to understand pain perception and prevent detrimental effects on the OHRQOL.