Are Lowered Socioeconomic Circumstances Causally Related to Tooth Loss? A Natural Experiment Involving the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake
Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Oral health status is correlated with socioeconomic status. However, the causal nature of the relationship is not established. Here we describe a natural experiment involving deteriorating socioeconomic circumstances following exposure to the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. We investigated the relationship between subjective economic deterioration and housing damage due to the disaster and tooth loss in a cohort of community-dwelling residents (n = 3,039), from whom we obtained information about socioeconomic status and health status in 2010 (i.e., predating the disaster). A follow-up survey was performed in 2013 (postdisaster), and 82.1% of the 4,380 eligible survivors responded. We estimated the impact of subjective economic deterioration and housing damage due to the disaster on tooth loss by fitting an instrumental variable probit model. Subjective economic deterioration and housing damage due to the disaster were significantly associated with 8.1% and 1.7% increases in the probability of tooth loss (probit coefficients were 0.469 (95% confidence interval: 0.065, 0.872) and 0.103 (95% confidence interval: 0.011, 0.196), respectively). In this natural experiment, we confirmed the causal relationship between deteriorating socioeconomic circumstances and tooth loss.
Source: American Journal of Epidemiology
DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx059
Institution: Tohoku University
Language: English
Subfield: General Dentistry
Field: Dentistry
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Chiba University, National Institutes of Health, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, National Institute on Aging
Awards: G1500923458, G1660896532, G2065410464, A cohort study on health disparities and health care costs, oral health of elderly., G312989103, Study on elucidating the generation process of inequality in well-being and social capital among older people, G3382920997, The longitudinal study on the social determinants of health of older adults in Japan, Effects of social determinants before- and after- the disaster on oral and general health, G3761102885, G3968331801, G4565720053, G4856248309, G4967677775, G5453457636, Impact of social cohesion on functional recovery after earthquake and tsunami, Study on well-being disparities as results of social exclusion and social capital
OpenAlex ID: W2611633442