Periodontal Status as Mediator of the Association between Socioeconomic Status and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Objective: To test periodontal status as a mediator between socioeconomic status (SES) and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in pregnant women. Basic research design: Secondary cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a randomised clinical trial with 303 pregnant women. Main outcome measures: Demographic variables, SES, smoking, interproximal hygiene, and self-reported gingival bleeding were collected as independent variables. The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 was used to assess OHRQoL. The relationship between SES, periodontal status and OHRQoL was investigated in structural equation modelling. Results: There was a moderate association of SES with periodontal status (standardised coefficient SC = -0.26, p⟨0.01) and number of teeth (SC = 0.24, p⟨0.01). Periodontal status and the number of teeth were also associated with OHRQoL (respectively, SC = 0.25, p⟨0.01 and SC = -0.31, p⟨0.01), but SES was only indirectly related to OHRQoL (SC = -0.17, p⟨0.01). Socioeconomic inequalities in quality of life were mainly explained by the remaining number of teeth, contributing to about 47%, and periodontal status, contributing to about 41%. Conclusions: There was no direct effect of SES on OHRQoL in pregnant women. Periodontal status and missing teeth each explained almost half of the total indirect association

Keywords

Quality of life periodontal diseases oral health socioeconomic status

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