Does psychological stress mediate social deprivation in tooth loss?
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' (a = 0.85) and 'coping' (a =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.
Institute of Dentistry, Barts and the London, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. anne.sanders@adelaide.edu.au
A E
AE
Sanders
G D
GD
Slade
G
G
Turrell
A J
AJ
Spencer
W
W
Marcenes
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000367:Age Factors; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007576:Jaw, Edentulous, Partially / Q000150:complications / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology*