Effect of Environmental Tobacco Smoke on Children’s Anxiety and Behavior in Dental Clinics, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Heba J. Sabbagh, Ghadeer Sharton, Jumana Almaghrabi, Manal Al-Malik, Mona Hassan Ahmed Hassan and Narmin Helal
Additional contact information
Heba J. Sabbagh: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Ghadeer Sharton: School of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Jumana Almaghrabi: School of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Manal Al-Malik: Dental Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah 21411, Saudi Arabia
Mona Hassan Ahmed Hassan: Department of Biostatistics, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Narmin Helal: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Background: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has been linked to behavioral problems, but no study has assessed its relationship with dental anxiety. Therefore, this study’s goal is to assess the relation between ETS and both behavioral problems and dental anxiety among children. Methods: The study sample was collected from two centres in Jeddah from October 2019 to January 2020. Inclusion criteria included healthy 5–16-year-old children having their first dental visit with no emergency complaint. The questionnaire including general information, ETS exposure, the child’s anxiety using the Abeer Children Dental Anxiety Scale (ACDAS) and dental behavior using the Frankl Behavioral Rating Scale. Results: Of 500 children, 337 (67.4% response rate) responded to the questionnaire, among whom 201 (59.6%) had been exposed to passive smoking compared to 136 (40.4%) who had not. Exposed children had a statistically significantly greater tendency to develop anxiety ( p = 0.002) and demonstrate uncooperative behavior ( p = 0.006). Generalized linear mode and binary regression analyses suggested that ETS has a statistically significant effect on children’s dental anxiety and behavior ( p < 0.05). Conclusions: Children exposed to ETS demonstrated statistically significantly higher anxiety levels and uncooperative behavior in the dental clinic compared to those who were not exposed.

Keywords: dental anxiety; Abeer Anxiety Scale; Franke Behavior Rating Scale; secondhand smoker; children; cooperative patients; dental clinic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/319/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/319/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:1:p:319-:d:474563

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().