Is the Demographic Assessment for Health Literacy (DAHL) associated with oral health outcomes among American adults?

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to explore the relationship between health literacy and oral health outcomes using data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey NHANES 2015-2018. Materials and Methods: This study was established upon secondary data analysis of cross-sectional data (2015- 2016) and (2017-2018) derived from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). A total of 4122 participants who were older than 55 years old and had complete data were included in the analysis. To define Tooth loss, we created a continuous variable (0-32) using the “DMFT" score (missing, decayed and filled teeth) which was available in NHANES for each tooth. The missing tooth was counted, and if the number of teeth was <32 it defied as tooth loss. However, dentition group was defied as functional dentition if number of teeth was >21.The main independent variable in this research was DAHL score for assessment of Health Literacy. The association was tested in Two logistics regression. First, to measure the association odd ratio between the (exposure) DAHL groups and (outcome) functional dentition. Second, to measure the association rate ratio between (exposure) DAHL groups and (outcome) number of teeth. Results: There was a statistically significant association between the health literacy and oral health outcomes. Approximately 62.4% of participants had adequate health literacy, while only 27.9% and 9.7% had marginal and inadequate 9.7% health literacy, respectively. 3 Conclusion: The Demographic Assessment for Health Literacy (DAHL) tool can be a useful way to measure health literacy and identify areas for improvement. Our findings suggest that individuals with higher health literacy levels were more likely to have better oral health outcomes compared to those with lower health literacy levels