Objective: To determine if there is an association between carriage of oral yeasts and malnutrition in infants.
Design: A case-control study within a cross-sectional study. The dependent variable was carriage of oral yeasts. The exposure variable was malnutrition and confounders to be adjusted for were age, sex, and breast-feeding.
Setting: A maternal and child health clinic in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania that offers routine medical check-ups to all expectant mothers and children aged between 0 and 5 years in its catchment areas.
Subjects and methods: 972 infants aged 6-24 months participated. Smears from the tongue and cheek mucosa were examined for candidal hyphae and blastospores. Malnutrition was categorized according to Tanzanian standards (weight-for-age) and World Health Organization (WHO) standards (weight-for-height and height-for-age).
Main outcome measure: Carriage of oral yeasts (hyphae and blastospores).
Results: Carriage of oral yeasts was significantly higher in the 227 malnourished compared with the 745 well nourished adjusted for confounders. Odds ratio for presence of hyphae in smears from the severely malnourished (weight-for-age) was 4.5 (90% CI: 2.0-10.0). Odds ratio for presence of hyphae was 2.3 (90% CI: 1.1-4.8) when weight-for-height were used to categorize for malnutrition.
Conclusion: The study tends to confirm the generally held view that malnutrition may predispose to carriage of oral yeasts and subsequent oral candidiasis.