The role of birth cohorts in oral health research

Abstract

Background: Birth cohorts can be a suitable study design to study oral diseases across the life course

Objectives: To assess the role of birth cohorts in oral health research using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort in four studies:
•to describe the pathways and the interplay between early life determinants of caries in children at five and ten years.
•to identify the effect of early socioeconomic disadvantage on dental care utilisation during adolescence and early adulthood.
•to determine the longitudinal bidirectional relationships between dental anxiety, caries and dental check-ups at seven, ten and 17 years and to assess the hypothesized cycle of dental fear.
•to determine the longitudinal bidirectional relationship between untreated caries and obesity in children.

Methods: Secondary analysis of the ALSPAC guided by theoretical models. The hypothesized models were tested using structural equation modelling (Weston and Gore Jr, 2006).

Results: A complex interplay of determinants highlighted the effect of family social disadvantage (parental education and social class) mediated by oral health behaviours on dental caries at five and ten years. Early socioeconomic disadvantage also predicted the usual reason for dental visits during both adolescence and adulthood. Caries experience predicted subsequent dental anxiety and vice versa. Attendance at dental check-ups also predicted subsequent lower level of dental anxiety. There was insufficient evidence of a bidirectional relationship between untreated caries and obesity.

Conclusions: Birth cohorts provide the chance to study life course oral health inequities. Planning for birth cohorts should engage dental researchers.

Date of Award	21 Mar 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Peter G Robinson (Supervisor) & Andrea E Waylen (Supervisor)