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. 2018 Sep 17;16(1):187.
doi: 10.1186/s12955-018-1015-7.

The factors that influence oral health-related quality of life in young adults

Ling Sun  1 , Hai Ming Wong  2 , Colman P J McGrath  3
Affiliations

The factors that influence oral health-related quality of life in young adults

Ling Sun et al. Health Qual Life Outcomes. .

Abstract

Background: Young adulthood is a time when subjects transform their role from a dependent child to an independent social identity. This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the sociodemographic and clinical factors that may influence the OHRQoL of 18-year-old young adults.

Methods: A representative sample was selected from Hong Kong. Periodontal status and caries were examined according to WHO criteria. Four orthodontic indices were used to assess malocclusion. The oral health impact profile (OHIP-14) was used to measure OHRQoL. Adjusted OR was calculated by ordinal logistic regression.

Results: A total of 300 eligible subjects (165 females, 135 males) were recruited. Females had more severe caries than males; however, gender was not a significant factor of OHRQoL. Household income affected OHRQoL more than parents' education did: household income had effects on physical pain, psychological discomfort, psychological disability, and the total OHIP; while parents' education had some effects on functional limitation, physical pain and psychological discomfort. As for clinical factors, unhealthy periodontal conditions were more prevalent than caries (94.67% vs. 59.00%); however, both of them showed no effect on OHRQoL. Malocclusion had a negative effect on OHRQoL; the most affected subscales were psychological discomfort and psychological disability.

Conclusion: In this study, family ecosocial factors and malocclusion had an effect on OHRQoL. Among the family ecosocial factors, it was household income that had the most effect on OHRQoL. Malocclusion mainly affected the subscales of psychological discomfort and psychological disability. Gender, periodontal status and caries had no effect on young adults' OHRQoL.

Keywords: Caries; Malocclusion; Oral health-related quality of life; Periodontal status; Sociodemographic factors; Young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The ethical approval of this study was granted by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster (UW 09–453). A written consent from parents/primary caregivers and a verbal consent from students were obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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