Table 4.

Association between caries and independent variables in Xuhui, China (n = 9804)

Variables	Categories	β	Z-value	P-value	aPR	aPR 95% CI
Age	–	0.351	12.875	< 0.001**	1.342	1.269–1.419
Gender	Boys
	Girls	−0.015	− 0.331	0.741	0.992	0.946–1.040
Household registration	Non-Shanghai
	Shanghai	−0.347	−2.811	0.005**	0.843	0.756–0.941
Guardians	Parents
	Grandparents	0.051	0.589	0.556	1.027	0.940–1.122
Education level of guardians	Below high school	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
	High school	−0.219	−1.884	0.060	0.886	0.777–1.010
	College and above	−0.624	−5.900	< 0.001**	0.740	0.677–0.810
Feeding patterns	exclusive or predominant artificial feeding	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
	exclusive or predominant breastfeeding	0.147	2.519	0.012*	1.081	1.017–1.150
	Combination feeding	0.001	0.019	0.985	1.001	0.934–1.072
Frequency of eating desserts and candies	–	0.004	0.200	0.842	1.002	0.982–1.022
Frequency of drinking sweetened beverages	–	0.062	3.289	0.001**	1.035	1.013–1.058
Eating sweets before sleep (days per week)	Rarely/never (< 1)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
	Sometimes (1–3)	0.367	7.502	< 0.001**	1.216	1.155–1.281
	Often (> = 4)	0.553	5.469	< 0.001**	1.298	1.196–1.409
The age of starting tooth- brushing	–	0.124	5.010	< 0.001**	1.079	1.043–1.117
Toothbrush (times per day)	< 1	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
	1	−0.100	−1.979	0.048*	0.948	0.899–1.000
	> = 2	−0.516	−5.527	< 0.001**	0.741	0.661–0.831
Helping children brush teeth (days per week)	Rarely/never (< 1)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
	Sometimes (1–3)	−0.188	−2.732	0.007**	0.905	0.841–0.972
	Often (4–6)	−0.134	−0.910	0.362	0.929	0.790–1.093
	Everyday (7)	−0.031	−0.411	0.681	0.983	0.907–1.066
Parental perception about children’s oral health	–	−0.939	−32.053	< 0.001**	0.951	0.945–0.956
Score of guardians’ oral health knowledge	–	−0.017	−2.007	0.045*	0.992	0.985–0.999
Constant	–	2.045	7.140	< 0.001**	–	–

The P value of goodness of fit test was 0.062

aPR adjusted prevalence ratio, CI confidence interval, Ref reference group

*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01