Relationship between Early Childhood Caries and Prolonged Coughing Episodes in a Cohort of Cambodian Children

Studies have shown an association between Early Childhood Caries (ECC) and respiratory infections; however, most have been cross-sectional, and all have been in high-income countries. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) was applied to longitudinal data from the Cambodia Health and Nutrition Monitoring Study. An analytical sample of 1703 Cambodian children between 1- and 4-years old was used to examine the effect of caries incidence (ECC Activity) on the odds of a child subsequently experiencing an episode of prolonged coughing (>14 days) over the subsequent 18 m. ECC activity occurred among 523 children (30.7%) while prolonged coughing was observed among 235 children (13.8%). ECC activity increased the risk of prolonged coughing (RR 1.23; 95% CI 0.95, 1.58; Average treatment effect = 3%). Follow-up investigations are justified in order to examine whether ECC may be a modifiable risk factor for prevention of respiratory illness among young children.