Association Between Cluster of Health-Related Behaviours and Functional Dentition

Objectives: To explore the association between cluster of health-related behaviours and functional dentition among English older adults.
Methods: Data from wave 7 (2014/ 2015) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) was used. Latent class analysis was used to calculate cluster of four behaviours (smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol intake, physical activity). Functional dentition (having 20 teeth or more) was the outcome. The analysis also included sociodemographic factors (age, gender, ethnicity, wealth, and education). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between cluster of health-related behaviours and functional dentition.
Results: The analysis included 9,666 participants. Three clusters of behaviours were identified. Class 1 had 24% of participants (n=2,373) and had the lowest probability of physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and highest probability of smoking. Class 2 had the largest proportion of participants, 63% (n=6,155) and had the lowest probability of alcohol intake. Class 3 had only 11% of participants (n=1,138) and had the highest probability of physical activity, alcohol intake, consumption of fruits and vegetables, and lowest probability of smoking. Functional dentition was highest among individuals in class 3 (77%) and class 2 (73%), and lowest in class 1 (46%). In the fully adjusted model, participants in class 2 and class 3 had 1.4 (95%CI: 1.23, 1.64) and 1.7 (95%CI: 1.38, 2.09) higher odds for having functional dentition compared to participants in class 1, respectively.
Conclusions: Cluster of health-related behaviours was cross-sectionally associated with functional dentition among English older adults. Class 1 appeared to have the highest probability to engage in risky behaviours and lowest probability of having functional dentition.