Family Affluence Based Inequality in Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in a Population of Lithuanian Adolescents

Apolinaras Zaborskis, Aistė Kavaliauskienė and Antanas Šidlauskas
Additional contact information
Apolinaras Zaborskis: Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Tilžės street 18, LT-47181 Kaunas, Lithuania
Aistė Kavaliauskienė: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Odontology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, A.Lukšos-Daumanto street 6, LT-50106 Kaunas, Lithuania
Antanas Šidlauskas: Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Odontology, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, A.Lukšos-Daumanto street 6, LT-50106 Kaunas, Lithuania

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: Background: The social inequalities in oral health have had increasing attention in recent years. The present study aimed to explore the impact of family affluence on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) among Lithuanian adolescents aged 11–18 years. Methods: The cross-sectional, population-based study included a representative sample of 881 adolescents aged 11–18 years (mean = 15.55; SD = 1.51) randomly selected from 20 schools in Lithuania. The schoolchildren completed questionnaires to evaluate their OHRQoL using a Lithuanian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ). The adolescents’ family affluence was indirectly assessed by inquiring whether they possessed various modern life items. In dental examination, the severity of malocclusion was predetermined by the Index of Complexity, Outcome, and Need (ICON). The relationship among variables was examined employing the negative binomial regression and the path analysis. Results: The sum score of CPQ as a whole and the sum scores of all four domains were significantly associated with family affluence, indicating higher OHRQoL among adolescents from more affluent families. The severity of malocclusion had a significant association with emotional and social well-being domains of OHRQoL only. Conclusion: This study evidences the family affluence based inequality in OHRQoL among Lithuanian adolescents.

Keywords: social inequality in health; oral health-related quality of life; child perceptions questionnaire; malocclusion; family affluence; adolescents; Lithuania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/12/2106/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/12/2106/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:12:p:2106-:d:239740

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().