Relationship Between Early Childhood Caries with Anemia in Children from a Peruvian Social Program

Nutritional conditions such as anemia have a connection to oral health issues like cavities. The objective of this research was to demonstrate the connection between early childhood caries and its resulting clinical effects, particularly iron deficiency anemia, in children enrolled in the “Vaso de Leche” social program in Puno, Peru. This cross-sectional descriptive study employed a correlational design, considering 740 infants ages 1 to 5 years. The evaluation involved analyzing the repercussions of untreated dental caries through the PUFA/pufa index and determining the frequency of caries through the DMFT/dmft index. The diagnosis of anemia depended on indicators of the nutritional program of the Ministry of Health. Data analysis, performed with SPSS v25, included Spearman’s Rho, chi-square, and Mann-Whitney U statistical tests, with significance established at p < 0.05. The findings underscore a significant relationship between infant caries and anemia in children (p < 0.05). Regarding the child’s age, a noteworthy difference was observed (p < 0.05), whereas there was no statistically significant distinction in relation to gender for the dmft and pufa indices (p > 0.05). In conclusion, a substantial connection exists between caries in infants and iron deficiency anemia in children from 1 to 5 years old.