Abstract

Risk Behaviors and Race/ Ethnicity on Dental Visiting Among High School Students in Hawaii: Hawaii Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2013, 2015

Alex Espinoza, MPH1, Donald Hayes, MD MPH2, Sarah Uehara, MHMS3 and Deborah Mattheus, PhD, CPNP, APRN4
(1)The University of North Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, (2)Hawaii Department of Health, Honolulu, HI, (3)University of Maryland School of Dentistry, Baltimore, MD, (4)University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI

APHA 2017 Annual Meeting & Expo (Nov. 4 - Nov. 8)

Purpose: Risk behaviors are known to adversely affect health outcomes, but the relationship between youth risk behaviors and oral health remains unclear. The objective of this study is to examine the likelihood of dental visiting among Hawaii public high school students by demographic factors and number of adverse risk behaviors. Methods: Aggregated 2013 and 2015 Hawaii public high school Youth Risk and Behavior Survey (YRBS) data was used to examine the association between demographic/risk behavior variables and likelihood of dental visits in the past 12 months using binomial logistic regression to estimate risk ratios. Results: Overall (n=10,720), 77.1% of students reported a dental visit in the past 12 months. After adjusting for age, sex, and race/ethnicity, those having either 4 (RR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.81-0.96) or ≥ 5 risk factors (RR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.75-0.96) were less likely to report a dental visit than those with no risk factors. Additionally, Hispanics (RR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.94), Native Hawaiians (RR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.82-0.92), Filipinos (RR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.86-0.97), Other Pacific Islanders (RR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.71-0.86), and students who identified as more than one race/ethnicity (RR = 0.90, 95% CI 0.85-0.96) were less likely to visit the dentist than their white counterparts. Conclusions: This study supports the presence of disparities in oral health care utilization among Hawaii public high school students. Given the unique demography, culture, and geography of Hawaii, the state requires tailored efforts that take into account differences in racial-ethnic groups.

Advocacy for health and health education Diversity and culture Epidemiology Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs Program planning Public health or related public policy