The Porto Alegre Early Life Nutrition and Health Study A Pesquisa de Nutrição e Saúde na Infância de Porto Alegre

ABSTRACT: Early childhood caries is a persistent worldwide problem. The etiologic contribution of feeding practices has been less frequently investigated in prospective studies of young children. The Porto Alegre Early Life Nutrition and Health Study has followed a birth cohort of 715 mother-child pairs, recruited from municipal health centers, originally involved in a cluster-randomized controlled trial of healthcare worker training. The birth cohort links prospectively collected socio-demographic, infant feeding, and general and oral health information. To date, oral health data, including caries status and oral health-related quality of life, have been collected for 458 children at the age of 2-3 years. Studies are underway to investigate possible determinants and consequences of oral health among these children. Keywords: Child, preschool. Feeding behavior. Dental caries. Cohort studies. Child. Intervention. RESUMO: Carie dentaria na infância continua apresentando alta prevalencia em todo o mundo. Poucos estudos prospectivos investigaram a participacao de praticas alimentares na etiologia deste agravo. A Pesquisa de Nutricao e Saude na Infância de Porto Alegre esta acompanhando uma coorte de 715 pares mae-filho, recrutados de unidades basicas de saude e que participam de um ensaio clinico de cluster em que a intervencao foi realizada com profissionais da saude. A coorte ao nascimento esta investigando a associacao entre dados sociodemograficos e alimentacao infantil, com informacoes de saude geral e saude bucal, prospectivamente coletados. Ate o momento, dados de saude bucal, incluindo carie dentaria e qualidade de vida relacionada a saude bucal, foram coletados de 458 criancas com 2 a 3 anos de idade. Pretende-se investigar possiveis determinantes e consequencias das condicoes de saude bucal nestas criancas.