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FOOD INSECURITY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH CHILDREN’S BMI AND GENERAL ANESTHESIA

9 - Food Insecurity's Relationship with Children's BMI and General Anesthesia

Friday, May 23, 2025
10:00 AM - 10:20 AM MDT
Has Audio

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Alexander Chen Le, DDS

    Pediatric Dental Resident
    University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL
    CHICAGO, Illinois, United States

    • Program Director(s)

  • Brittaney J. Hill, DDS, MS, MPH

    Clinical Associate Professor and Residency Program Director
    University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago IL
    University of Illinois at Chicago
    Chicago, Illinois, United States

Abstract:

Purpose: Children in food insecure (FI) households typically intake more calorie dense and cariogenic foods leading to higher Basal Metabolic Index (BMI). Poor dietary intake stemming from FI may lead to extensive dental caries requiring dental treatment under General Anesthesia (GA). We hypothesize that FI children will present with higher BMI and be more likely to require dental treatment under GA.
 

Methods: This cross-sectional study included patients (ages 3-17) in a university-based dental clinic. The patient’s legal guardian completed a survey and data regarding the patient’s BMI, caries status and need for GA were abstracted from their electronic dental records. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were conducted with a significance threshold at P< .05.
 

Results: For this study, 251 children with a median age of 7.0 years were recruited with 55% being female, 61% identified as Hispanic or Latino. Next, 67% of households presented with low food security and 26% with very low food security and 56% were healthy weight, 20% overweight, and 21% obese/severely obese. Only 38% of patients required treatment under GA. There was no association between FI and BMI (P=.660). There was no significant association between FI and need for GA (P=.089).
 

Conclusions: Results suggest no association between FI and BMI or the need for GA. However, we must recognize that 93% of our study population were presented with low/ very low food security and over half did not have a healthy BMI. Additional studies are needed in more diverse patient populations to further examine this association.


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