Abstract

ANDRADE, Ana Luiza Dias Leite de et al. Quality of life and oral health experience in HIV-infected and non-infected children. RGO, Rev. gaúch. odontol. (Online) [online]. 2012, vol.60, n.3, pp. 343-348. ISSN 1981-8637.

Objective Identify and compare quality of life indicators with oral health experience of HIV-infected and non-infected children. Methods The study was of the descriptive, exploratory and quantitative type, which was used the modified Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé, consisting of 26 questions with four possible answers and total scores ranging from 0 to 78. The cut-off score was 48, with same or higher scores indicative of satisfaction with quality of life indicators and lower, prejudiced quality of life indicators. To evaluate oral health experience, six questions were added, which used the same score scale as Autoquestionnaire Qualité de Vie Enfant Imagé, but that were considered separately. Eighty children from 6 to 13 years old participated in the research. They were divided in two groups: 20 HIV+ (Group 1) and 60 HIV- (Group 2). Results The mean scores were 50.45 and 50.8 for Groups 1 and 2, respectively. In relation to the oral health experience, the mean score was 7.0 for Group 1 and 8.6 for Group 2, showing significant differences (p = 0.0018). When the subdivision by age (children from 6 to 10 years and from 11 to 13) was considered, significant differences were also observed only for the oral health experience (p = 0.0165). Conclusion The children interviewed had satisfactory quality of life indicators indicators, while the oral health of HIV-infected children was considered impaired when compared with that of non-infected children.

Keywords : Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.; Oral health.; Quality of life..