Associated Factors of Oral Health-related Quality of Life in Chinese Adolescents Aged 12-15 Years

adolescents aged 12 to 15 years based on the 4th National Oral Health Survey and to explore
its associated factors.
Methods: Students aged 12 to 15 years were recruited using to a multistage stratified random
sampling method. All the subjects received oral examination and completed a questionnaire.
Information relating to OHRQoL was collected through a Mandarin version of the child oral
impacts on daily performances (Child-OIDP) questionnaire. The relationship between the
Child-OIDP scores and independent variables was assessed using a Mann-Whitney U-test,
Kruskal-Wallis test and a multivariate Poisson regression.
Results: A total of 89,582 subjects were included in the analysis, of whom 76.6% reported oral
impacts in the last 6 months. Eating was the most affected daily performance. The results of
the regression analysis showed that factors associated with adolescents’ OHRQoL included
sex, location of residence, region, only child status, parents’ level of education, frequency of
sugar consumption, self-perception of general/oral health, dental appointments in the past
12 months, oral health knowledge status, age, decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT)
index and number of teeth with gingival bleeding.
Conclusion: Oral impacts were common among Chinese adolescents, although most were not
so severe. Eating was the most commonly affected performance. Sex, location of residence,
region, only child status, parents’ level of education, frequency of sugar consumption, selfperception
of general/oral health status, dental appointments in the previous 12 months, oral
health knowledge status, age, DMFT index and number of teeth with gingival bleeding were
found to be associated with OHRQoL.