Measuring hair cortisol concentration, insomnia symptoms and quality of life in preschool children with severe early childhood caries – a case-control pilot study

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the children and their parents.

	Children with severe early childhood caries n = 12	Children without clinical signs of dental caries n = 28
Girls/Boys	5/7	9/19
Child’s age, mean (sd)	4.7 (1.1)	3.9 (0.5)
Mothers/Fathers	6/6	12/16
Number of children born in
Sweden	8	28
Syria	3	0
Lebanon	1	0
Number of parents born in
Sweden	3	22
Non-European countries	9	6
Use of interpreter during data collection	7	0

Table 2. Hair cortisol concentration, insomnia symptoms, health-related quality of life and oral health-related quality of life in the two groups.

	Children with severe early childhood caries n = 12	Children without clinical signs of dental caries n = 28
	Mean (sd)	Mean (sd)	p-value^a
Hair cortisol
Concentration pg/mg^b (median)	51.93	39.20	.68
Concentration log^b (median)	3.95	3.66	.68
Pediatric Insomnia Severity Index (PISI
Overall PISI score (0–30 p)	9.7 (3.5)	4.3 (2.6)	<.001
Sleep-onset problems (0–10 p)	3.3 (2.8)	1.8 (1.8)	.13
Sleep-maintenance problems (0–15 p)	4.6 (1.9)	1.6 (1.6)	<.001
Sleep duration (0–5 p)^c	1.8 (1.5)	0.9 (0.6)	.04
KIDSCREEN-27
General HRQoL^d	55.3 (11.1)	57.3 (6.5)	.91
Physical well-being^d	54.4 (12.4)	56.8 (8.6)	.59
Psychological well-being^d	57.4 (12.4)	57.4 (7.9)	.53
Autonomy and parent relation^d	56.6 (12.3)	56.6 (8.2)	.84
Social support and peers^d	56.5 (11.9)	55.1 (6.9)	.33
School environment^d	51.8 (22.9)	60.7 (7.7)	.41
Parental-Caregivers Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ)
Overall OHRQoL	31.1 (19.4)	3.7 (5.8)	<.001
Oral symptoms	9.5 (4.6)	1.4 (1.2)	<.001
Functional limitations	10.1 (6.9)	0.7 (1.1)	<.001
Emotional limitations	7.8 (6.2)	1.2 (3.8)	<.001
Social well-being	3.7 (5.0)	0.4 (1.7)	<.001
Family Impact Scale (FIS)
Overall family impact scale (0–36 p)^d	14.2 (7.5)	0.4 (1.9)	<.001
Parental/family activity (0–12 p)	6.9 (5.0)	0.2 (0.9)	<.001
Parental emotions (0–12 p)	5.4 (3.2)	0.2 (0.8)	<.001
Family conflict (0-–2 p)	1.8 (7.2)	0.1 (0.3)	.02

^aMann-Whitney U-test.

^bHair cortisol concentration data are presented in medians and quintiles (q1, q4).

^cSix-point Likert-scale from 0 = 11–13 h to 5 = less than 5 h.

^dCalculated T-scores, where scores 50 ± 10 are considered normal.

^eOnly one parent reported financial difficulties, therefore the dimension Financial burden has been omitted from the table.

Figure 1. Multiple line chart of the mean number of decayed, extracted and filled tooth surfaces (defs), Family Impact Scale (FIS) and Parental-Caregivers Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ) related to sleep duration, n = 39.

Figure 2. Multiple line chart of the mean number of decayed, extracted and filled tooth surfaces (defs), Family Impact Scale (FIS) and Parental-Caregivers Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ) related to sleep maintenance problems (SMP), n = 39.

Table 3. Correlations^a between oral health and insomnia symptoms, n = 39.

	Sleep Maintenance Problems	Sleep duration
Caries score^b	ρ = .64	ρ = .32
	p < .001	p = .04
Parental-Caregivers Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ)	ρ = .48	ρ = .49
	p < .001	p < .01
Family Impact Scale (FIS)	ρ = .54	ρ = .51
	p < .001	p < .001.

^aSpearman correlation coefficient (ρ).

^bDecayed, extracted and filled tooth surfaces (defs).

Data availability statement

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.