Childhood dental caries experience in northern Spain: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to describe the caries experience in primary and permanent dentition of schoolchildren from a sample taken in public schools in Bilbao, to identify the most vulnerable child population, and compare them with the findings obtained by the Children's Dental Care Programme in the region of the Basque Country (Spain). METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a representative sample (n = 1682) of children from 5-year-old early childhood education classes and the first- and second-year elementary classes in public schools in Bilbao. The dependent variable was the caries experience determined through oral examinations carried out by a single dentist. On the other hand, independent variables were measured through questionnaires completed by families, with help from teachers as appropriate. In the statistical analysis, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests, as well as two logistic regressions, were performed, and the significance level was set at α = 0.05 for decision making. RESULTS: The mean (SD) values of dft, DMFT, DMFS and DMFT of first permanent molars scores were 1.25 ± 2.20, 0.16 ± 0.61, 0.20 ± 0.90 and 0.15 ± 0.57, respectively. Compared to the findings in the most recent PADI report, the schoolchildren in our sample had slightly greater experience of dental caries in primary dentition and much greater experience in permanent dentition. CONCLUSION: The dft index of the primary dentition for the current sample is 1.25, while the DMFT index for the permanent dentition is 0.16. Among pupils in early childhood and elementary education in public schools in Bilbao, children from families with low socioeconomic status and educational attainment are most vulnerable to developing caries.

[Cancer cluster analysis. The case of the Campdorà District in Girona, Spain]. / Análisis de conglomerados de cancer. El caso del barrio de Campdorà, Girona.

A conglomerate of cases may be defined as the onset of a number of cases of a disease larger than would be expected for a certain population group, geographical area or a certain timeframe. In the case of cancer, the study of conglomerates entails a number of specific characteristics as compared to other groups of diseases. This work is aimed at proposing a protocol affording the possibility of conducting the study of cancer conglomerates in time and/or space. This article is illustrated with a practical application in the case of the Campdorà District in Girona. Following a proposed protocol for the study of conglomerates, a description is provided of several statistical tools making it possible to draw a comparison among the existence of time-related groupings, as well as the related risk. During the period studied (1994-2002), no excessive statistically significant number of cancer cases seemed to have occurred in the Campdorà District in Girona.