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Feeding At Sleep Time (FeAST) Scale: Assessing Risk for Developing Early Childhood Caries in South Indian Toddlers
Akila Ganesh1, M S Muthu2, Ramachandran Padmanabhan3
1Department of Public Health Dentistry, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Dental Sciences.
Insights
The Feeding At Sleep Time (FeAST) scale helps identify children at risk for early childhood caries (ECC). Specific cutoff scores for combined breast-feeding and bottle-feeding practices can now be used for risk assessment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Dentistry
- Public Health Nutrition
- Child Development
Background:
- Early childhood caries (ECC) is a significant public health concern.
- Sleep time feeding practices are associated with ECC risk.
- A validated tool is needed to assess these practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the scoring process for the Feeding At Sleep Time (FeAST) scale.
- To determine optimal clinical cutoff scores for early childhood caries (ECC) risk.
- To enable risk assessment for ECC using the FeAST scale.
Main Methods:
- The FeAST scale was administered to 527 mothers of toddlers (12-36 months).
- Scores were calculated based on combined breast-feeding (CBR) and combined bottle-feeding (CBO) subconstructs.
- Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis identified optimal cutoff points.
Main Results:
- Cutoff scores >14 for CBR and >11 for CBO indicate ECC risk.
- ROC analysis showed statistically significant performance (P<0.001).
- Area under the curve (AUC) values indicated fair (0.707) and good (0.788) performance for CBR and CBO, respectively.
Conclusions:
- The FeAST scale, with established cutoff scores, can identify toddlers at risk for ECC.
- ROC analysis supports the scale's utility for ECC risk screening.
- Clinicians and researchers can utilize the FeAST scale for early intervention.
Purpose:
The Feeding At Sleep Time (FeAST) scale was developed and validated to assess sleep time feeding practices for children younger than three years. The purpose of this study was to describe the process of scoring and find an optimum clinical cutoff score for early childhood caries (ECC) using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis, thereby enabling researchers and clinicians to assess risk for devel- oping ECC.
Methods:
The FeAST scale was administered to mothers of 527 toddlers, aged 12 to 36 months, attending four outpatient depart- ments. The score was calculated based on subconstructs of combined breast-feeding (CBR) and combined bottle-feeding (CBO), and suitable cutoff points were identified using ROC analysis.
Results:
The study established a cutoff score greater than 14 for the CBR construct and a cutoff score greater than 11 for the CBO construct of the FeAST scale to determine a child's risk for developing ECC. The area under the curve (AUC), which measures the overall performance of a scale, has yielded statistically significant values (P<0.001) with fair (0.707) and good (0.788) perform- ance for the CBR and CBO constructs, respectively.
Conclusion:
The Feeding at Sleep Time scale, based on receiver operating characteristics analysis, can potentially be used by clinicians and researchers to screen toddlers at risk of developing early childhood caries.
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