Does psychological stress mediate social deprivation in tooth loss?

作者：Sanders A E^*; Slade G D; Turrell G; Spencer A J; Marcenes W

来源：Journal of Dental Research, 2007, 86(12): 1166-1170.

DOI：10.1177/154405910708601205

• psychological stress
• tooth loss
• mediator
• health inequalities
• risk behavior

It is unclear which theoretical dimension of psychological stress affects health status. We hypothesized that both distress and coping mediate the relationship between socio-economic position and tooth loss. Cross-sectional data from 2915 middle-aged adults evaluated retention of < 20 teeth, behaviors, psychological stress, and sociodemographic characteristics. Principal components analysis of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) extracted 'distress' (alpha=0.85) and 'coping' (alpha=0.83) factors, consistent with theory. Hierarchical entry of explanatory variables into age- and sex-adjusted logistic regression models estimated odds ratios ( OR) and 95% confidence intervals [95% CI] for retention of < 20 teeth. Analysis of the separate contributions of distress and coping revealed a significant main effect of coping (OR=0.7 [95% CI=0.7-0.8]), but no effect for distress (OR=1.0 [95% CI=0.9-1.1]) or for the interaction of coping and distress. Behavior and psychological stress only modestly attenuated socio-economic inequality in retention of < 20 teeth, providing evidence to support a mediating role of coping.

• 出版日期2007-12