Hygiene Practices and Early Childhood Development in the East Asia-Pacific Region: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Poor hygiene might be a risk factor for early childhood development (ECD). This study investigated the associations of three hygiene practices ('wash hands before a meal,' 'wash hands after going to the toilet,' and 'brush teeth'), separately and combined, with ECD. Six thousand six hundred ninety-seven children (4 [0.8] years) from the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales validation study were included in this cross-sectional analysis. The hygiene variables were recoded to have comparable values as 'always,' 'sometimes,' and 'never.' These variables were then grouped to create combined categories. The binary outcome variables, poor ECD, were defined as a score < age-specific 25th centile. Modified Poisson regression models were used to analyse the associations. Data collection

SUBMITTER: Petermann-Rocha F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9957383 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature