IADR Abstract Archives
Does oral health literacy relate to both socioeconomic and oral health status
Objectives: To estimate the mediating effect of oral health literacy on the relationship between socioeconomic and oral health status among the Australian adults.
Methods: Data were from a subset of the National Dental Telephone Interview Survey 2013; a random sample survey of Australian adults was used. Data included socioeconomic status: educational level which was categorised to ‘Tertiary (Highest)’, ‘Trade to diploma (Medium)’ and ‘Secondary (Lowest)’; and household income which was classed to ‘≥$ 90 K (Highest)’, ‘≥ $40 K and <$ 90 K (Medium)’, and ‘< $40 K (Lowest)’. Oral health literacy was measured using the short Health Literacy in Dentistry (HeLD) scale (ranged from 0 to 56), and categorised ‘≥45’ vs ‘<45’. Oral health status was assessed using self-reported number of teeth, and dichotomised to ‘≥21’ vs ‘<21’. Marginal structural model (MSM) with stabilized inverse-probability weights were performed to test the association between socioeconomic and oral health status after controlling for the mediating effect of oral health literacy.
Results: Data was available for 2,936 Australian adults aged 18+ years. The prevalence of number of teeth <21 was 14.9%. The direct effect of HeLD (<45) was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.06-1.13), the lowest and medium groups of education level were 1.27 (95% CI: 1.23-1.32) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.12-1.20) and income were 1.47 (95% CI: 1.43-1.52) and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.06-1.23), respectively, on the number of teeth (<21). After controlling for the direct effect of oral health literacy, the lowest and medium groups of education level were 1.19 (95% CI: 1.15-1.24) and 1.14 (95% CI: 1.11-1.18), and income were 1.25 (95% CI: 1.21-1.30) and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.02-1.09), respectively, on the number of teeth (<21).
Conclusions: Oral health literacy had a mediating effect on the relationship between socioeconomic and oral health status.
Methods: Data were from a subset of the National Dental Telephone Interview Survey 2013; a random sample survey of Australian adults was used. Data included socioeconomic status: educational level which was categorised to ‘Tertiary (Highest)’, ‘Trade to diploma (Medium)’ and ‘Secondary (Lowest)’; and household income which was classed to ‘≥$ 90 K (Highest)’, ‘≥ $40 K and <$ 90 K (Medium)’, and ‘< $40 K (Lowest)’. Oral health literacy was measured using the short Health Literacy in Dentistry (HeLD) scale (ranged from 0 to 56), and categorised ‘≥45’ vs ‘<45’. Oral health status was assessed using self-reported number of teeth, and dichotomised to ‘≥21’ vs ‘<21’. Marginal structural model (MSM) with stabilized inverse-probability weights were performed to test the association between socioeconomic and oral health status after controlling for the mediating effect of oral health literacy.
Results: Data was available for 2,936 Australian adults aged 18+ years. The prevalence of number of teeth <21 was 14.9%. The direct effect of HeLD (<45) was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.06-1.13), the lowest and medium groups of education level were 1.27 (95% CI: 1.23-1.32) and 1.16 (95% CI: 1.12-1.20) and income were 1.47 (95% CI: 1.43-1.52) and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.06-1.23), respectively, on the number of teeth (<21). After controlling for the direct effect of oral health literacy, the lowest and medium groups of education level were 1.19 (95% CI: 1.15-1.24) and 1.14 (95% CI: 1.11-1.18), and income were 1.25 (95% CI: 1.21-1.30) and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.02-1.09), respectively, on the number of teeth (<21).
Conclusions: Oral health literacy had a mediating effect on the relationship between socioeconomic and oral health status.