Being Left Alone at Home and Dental Caries of Children Aged 6-7 Years.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Leaving children alone at home is considered child neglect in some countries but is not prohibited in Japan. We investigated the association between being left alone at home and dental caries of children aged 6-7 years in Japan.

Methods

The data on first graders in all 69 public elementary schools in Adachi, Tokyo, obtained from repeated cross-sectional surveys in 2015, 2017, and 2019 were analyzed. Caregivers answered the questionnaire, and the data were linked to the information on children's dental caries evaluated in school dental health checkups (N = 12,029). Poisson regression analysis with propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to account for confounders.

Results

Leaving children alone at home for ≥1 hour during the weekdays was reported by 46.4

SUBMITTER: Matsuyama Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10165214 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature