Dental Health Behaviors, Dentition, and Mortality in the Elderly: The Leisure World Cohort Study

Table 3

Hazard ratios for mortality by dental health behaviors among subjects with teeth, Leisure World Cohort Study, 1992–2009.

	Men					Women
	No.	Model 1*		Model 2*		No.	Model 1*		Model 2*
		HR	95% CI	HR	95% CI		HR	95% CI	HR	95% CI
Brush my teeth in the morning
Everyday	1196	1.00		1.00		3014	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	176	1.03	0.87–1.21	1.08	0.91–1.29	250	1.14	0.99–1.31	1.13	0.98–1.30
Never	171	0.94	0.79–1.12	0.95	0.80–1.12	203	0.99	0.85–1.15	151.01	0.86–1.17
Brush my teeth at night before bed
Everyday	1112	1.00		1.00		2895	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	222	1.17	1.01–1.37	1.13	0.97–1.32	350	1.17	1.03–1.32	1.13	1.00–1.28
Never	209	1.36	1.16–1.58	1.34	1.14–1.57	222	1.19	1.02–1.38	1.19	1.02–1.38
Brush my teeth during the day
Everyday	265	1.00		1.00		965	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	521	0.99	0.85–1.16	0.95	0.81–1.12	1498	1.01	0.92–1.10	0.98	0.90–1.07
Never	757	1.09	0.94–1.26	1.06	0.91–1.23	1004	1.14	1.03–1.25	1.10	1.00–1.21
Use dental floss
Everyday	462	1.00		1.00		1572	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	603	1.18	1.03–1.34	1.14	1.00–1.30	1226	1.05	0.97–1.14	1.03	0.95–1.12
Never	478	1.31	1.15–1.50	1.27	1.11–1.46	669	1.31	1.19–1.45	1.28	1.16–1.42
Use mouth wash
Everyday	400	1.00		1.00		1134	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	543	0.99	0.87–1.14	1.01	0.88–1.16	1249	1.00	0.91–1.09	0.98	0.90–1.07
Never	600	0.92	0.80–1.05	0.93	0.81–1.07	1084	0.98	0.89–1.07	1.00	0.91–1.10
Use a tooth pick
Everyday	363	1.00		1.00		710	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	661	0.93	0.81–1.07	0.95	0.83–1.10	1306	0.99	0.89–1.10	0.98	0.88–1.09
Never	519	1.00	0.87–1.15	1.01	0.88–1.16	1451	1.05	0.95–1.16	1.04	0.94–1.15
Brush my teeth
Everyday morning, day and night	217	1.00		1.00		870	1.00		1.00
Everyday morning and night, not everyday day	646	1.06	0.90–1.24	1.01	0.86–1.20	1679	1.04	0.95–1.14	1.01	0.93–1.11
Everyday night, not everyday morning/day	249	0.96	0.80–1.17	0.96	0.79–1.17	346	1.00	0.87–1.14	0.98	0.86–1.13
Everyday morning/day, not everyday night	350	1.26	1.06–1.51	1.19	0.99–1.43	496	1.13	1.00–1.28	1.09	0.97–1.24
Not everyday	81	1.41	1.08–1.83	1.37	1.05–1.80	76	1.91	1.49–2.44	1.77	1.38–2.28
Brush my teeth at night before bed among subjects who use dental floss everyday
Everyday	403	1.00		1.00		1432	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	26	1.20	0.79–1.82	1.28	0.82–1.99	77	0.94	0.72–1.23	0.87	0.66–1.15
Never	33	1.36	0.92–1.99	1.33	0.87–2.01	63	1.23	0.93–1.62	1.21	0.91–1.60
Use dental floss among subjects who brush teeth at night before bed everyday
Everyday	403	1.00		1.00		1432	1.00		1.00
Sometimes	422	1.17	1.01–1.36	1.14	0.98–1.33	988	1.04	0.95–1.14	1.02	0.93–1.12
Never	287	1.26	1.08–1.48	1.25	1.06–1.48	475	1.24	1.11–1.39	1.20	1.07–1.34
Number of dental visits within the last 12 months
2+	1173	1.00		1.00		2671	1.00		1.00
1	235	1.05	0.91–1.22	1.06	0.91–1.23	505	1.04	0.94–1.16	1.07	0.96–1.18
0	135	1.48	1.23–1.79	1.46	1.21–1.77	291	1.33	1.17–1.51	1.31	1.14–1.50

*Model 1: adjusted for age at entry.
   Model 2: adjusted for age at entry, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, active activities, other activities, body mass index, high blood pressure, angina, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer.