Prevalence and Associated Factors of Dental Caries among Primary School Children in South-East Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to identify the prevalence and associated factors of dental caries in primary school children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 657 primary school children from South East, Nigeria. Data on age, sex, birth rank, dental visits, oral hygiene status, and enamel defects were collected. The presence of dental caries was recorded by using the World Health Organization criteria. Mean DMFT/dmft scores were determined and SPSS version 21 was used for analysis. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were conducted and P ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The study participants were 316 (48.1%) males and 341 (51.9%) females, and their mean age was 8.41 ± 2.18 years. The prevalence of caries was 22.7% while the mean DMFT and dmft scores were 0.10 and 0.45, respectively. Bivariate analysis showed a significant association between birth rank (P = 0.04), oral hygiene status (P = 0.05), enamel defects (P < 0.001), and dental caries. Multivariate regression analysis showed that good oral hygiene (OR = 0.180, CI: 0.036-1.003, P = 0.04), fair oral hygiene (OR = 0.576, CI: 0.345-0.993, P = 0.04) and enamel defects (OR = 4.939, CI = 2.406-10.137, P < 0.001) were significant predictors of caries in this study. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dental caries in this study was high. Oral hygiene and enamel defects were predictors of dental caries in the study population.

Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Obese Singaporeans: a Preliminary Study.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a major component of metabolic syndrome and an independent risk factor for various chronic diseases. It is also closely associated with mental illness, and the interaction is complex and multifactorial. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among obese Singaporeans. METHODS: Cross-sectional data of 36 male and 47 female obese Singaporeans who had been referred to the weight management clinic of National University Hospital, Singapore, between January 2010 and November 2011 were collected. Obesity was classified according to criteria of the World Health Organization. The extents of anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. RESULTS: In obese Singaporeans attending the weight management clinic, the prevalence of anxiety symptoms was higher than that of depressive symptoms (28% vs 11%). There was no major socioeconomic difference between obese patients with and without anxiety, or with and without depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: In obese Singaporeans, anxiety symptoms may be more common than depressive symptoms. Weight management programmes should incorporate anxiety management as part of standard treatment. Early detection and pharmacological and psychological interventions should be implemented.

High frequency of false positive IgM immunoblots for Borrelia burgdorferi in clinical practice.

Although it is known that two-tier serologic testing for Lyme disease may be associated with false positive results on the IgM immunoblot, this problem has never been systematically studied in the clinical practice setting. In a retrospective investigation of patients referred to the private adult practice of an Infectious Diseases physician for possible for Lyme disease, 50 of 182 patients (27.5%, 95% CI: 21.1-34.6) were found to have a false positive IgM immunoblot. 78.0% of these patients had received unnecessary antibiotic therapy. False positive results were not restricted to any single commercial laboratory. Research on alternative testing strategies that eliminate the IgM immunoblot entirely is warranted.

Pattern of head and neck malignant tumours in a Nigerian teaching hospital--a ten year review.

BACKGROUND: In Nigeria record of incidence and pattern of Head and Neck malignancies is scanty. In our Hospital, there had been no prior published report on this subject. OBJECTIVE: To study the pattern of occurrence of Head and Neck malignancies treated in Obafemi Awolowo university Hospitals Complex, Ile Ife, Nigeria. METHODS: medical records of patients with histopathologically confirmed head and neck malignancies over a 10 year period (1989--1998) were analyzed. MAIN RESULTS: Three hundred and thirteen (313) cases, made up of 184 (59%) males and 129 (41%) females were found. The most common sites for head and neck malignancies were found to be in the oral cavity (36.8%), the neck (26.8 %), the thyroid (13.7 %), and the esophagus (5.1%). The paranasal sinuses and the ear were the least affected anatomical sites with one (0.3 %) of cases each. The histopathological tumour types found in this work were lymphoma (40.26%), squamous cell carcinoma (25.23%), sarcoma (2.6%), while many other minor histopathological variants accounted for 31.9%. Lymphoma was the most common in children, while carcinoma was found in, and forms the most common histopathological variant of head and neck malignancies in the older age group. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS: There is a high incidence of childhood head and neck malignancies found in this study in contrast to the Western literature where the highest incidence is found in the older age group and the elderly. Jaw malignancies constituted the most common malignancies of the oral cavity. Lymphoma and thyroid malignancies are relatively common in our center.