Table 5.

Mediating effect of tooth loss/chewing difficulty ¹ on the association between breastfeeding duration ² and undernutrition ³ risk.

		Beta	SE	OR	95% CI	p	Sobel Test
							Z (p)
Path c	Breastfeeding duration → Undernutrition	0.490	0.209	1.63	1.09–2.46	0.019	2.167 (0.030)
Path a	Breastfeeding duration → Tooth loss/chewing difficulty	0.390	0.134	1.48	1.14–1.92	0.004
Path c’	Breastfeeding duration → Undernutrition	0.448	0.211	1.57	1.04–2.37	0.033
Path b	Tooth loss/chewing difficulty → Undernutrition	0.636	0.196	1.89	1.29–2.77	0.001

¹ At least one of tooth loss (number of teeth ≤ 16) and chewing difficulty (“very uncomfortable” or “uncomfortable” chewing ability); ² breastfeeding for ≥ 37 months vs. 1–36 months; ³ mean of proteins, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorous, and iron INQs (index of nutritional qualities) < 0.75. OR, odds ratio; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval. Path c, breastfeeding duration was regressed on undernutrition risk; path a, breastfeeding duration was regressed on tooth loss/chewing difficulty; respective paths c’ and b, breastfeeding duration and tooth loss/chewing difficulty were simultaneously regressed on undernutrition risk. ORs and 95% CIs were calculated using logistic regression analysis after adjustment for age, BMI, smoking, drinking, regular walking, daily frequency of tooth brushing, and number of chronic diseases.