Association Between Children's Toothbrushing and Head of Household Educational Attainment in Peru.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the association between Peruvian children toothbrushing and head of household educational attainment.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with two-stage, probabilistic, stratified, balanced and independent sampling. The independent variable was the highest level of education of the head of household, and the dependent variables were general toothbrushing, daily toothbrushing and toothbrushing at least twice a day; the co-variables were: wealth index, health insurance tendency, natural region, area of residence, place of residence, sex and age. The National Institute of Statistics and Informatics website was accessed to download and merge databases using STATA 15.1. The statistical analysis included descriptive, bivariate (chi-squared) and multivariate (Poisson regression) tests with a 95% confidence level and p < 0.05.

Results: The higher education level of the head of household presented a positive association with general toothbrushing (RPa: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.03-1.06; p < 0.001), adjusted for the variables natural region, area of residence, place of residence, altitude, wealth index, health insurance, sex and age.

Conclusion: Having a head of household with higher education is positively associated with children practising general toothbrushing, compared to those whose parents only completed an elementary education level.