Rishika Chakraborty
Rishika Chakraborty is a Ph.D. candidate majoring in Environmental Health with a minor in Epidemiology. She is also a consultant at the GradGrants Center at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research focuses on food insecurity and health and nutritional outcomes in children and adolescents, specifically in India, Ecuador and South Africa. She is interested in pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship to understand the link between water and food insecurity and study the adverse physical and mental health effects of this dual burden on children and adolescents. In the future, she hopes to become a public health researcher in nonprofit organizations to provide research-based policy solutions to alleviate food and water insecurity in vulnerable groups.
Child Reported Food Insecurity is Associated with Poor Oral Health in Ecuadorian School Children
Background: Emerging evidence, primarily from high-income countries suggests that food insecurity (FI) is associated with poor oral health in children. Ecuador, a middle-income country, has a high prevalence of FI and is also undergoing a nutritional transition with increasing consumption of ultra-processed food. However, it remains uncertain whether FI is associated with poor oral health in Ecuadorian children.
Objective: Investigate the relationship of child-reported and mother-reported FI to oral health in schoolchildren.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 276 schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years of age from Quito, Ecuador. Children self-reported their FI experience using the Child Food Security Survey Module and their mothers reported household FI using the Household Food Security Survey Module, validated for Quito. Our outcome was parent-reported dental problems in the past year. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models were used to analyze the association of child-reported and household FI with parent-reported child oral health.
Results: Child-reported FI was prevalent in 55% of the children, while mother-reported FI was prevalent in 78% of the households. Child-reported FI was associated with poor child oral health (OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.07, 3.20). Household FI was not associated with child oral health.
Conclusions: Mother-reported household FI may not be an accurate reflection of their children’s unique FI experience. Our findings underscore the need for child reported FI experience to identify those most vulnerable. This can inform the design of strategies to alleviate child FI which in turn, may benefit their oral health.
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