Table 4.

Survey logistic regression models^a examining the incidence rate of reported arthritis in relationship to the total number of dental filling surfaces for each person examined in the NHANES database.

Outcome	Variables	Odds ratio	95% confidence interval	P-value
Arthritis b	Total number of dental amalgam filling surfaces	1.033	0.99 to 1.07	.10
	Total number of dental amalgam filling surfaces	1.017	0.97 to 1.06	.48
	Race	0.88	0.73 to 1.06	.19
	Gender	0.86	0.34 to 2.18	.74
	Socioeconomic status	1.01	0.82 to 1.25	.93
	Country of birth	0.44	0.25 to 0.78	.0048
	Age	1.06	1.05 to 1.06	<.0001
	Education level	0.98	0.74 to 1.29	.88
	Total number of dental amalgam filling surfaces	1.01	0.97 to 1.06	.62
	Total number of other dental filling surfaces	0.95	0.87 to 1.04	.28
	Race	0.87	0.72 to 1.05	.16
	Gender	0.88	0.35 to 2.22	.78
	Socioeconomic status	1.03	0.83 to 1.27	.80
	Country of birth	0.45	0.26 to 0.78	.0043
	Age	1.06	1.05 to 1.08	<.0001
	Education level	1.00	0.77 to 1.29	.98

Bold-Italicized results are statistically significant.

^aThe survey logistic model employed used stratum, cluster, and weight variables. The incidence rate of reported arthritis in the year of the NHANES survey was evaluated in relation to the total number of dental filling surfaces for each person. The population examined included those persons in the dental amalgam filling surfaces group plus the other dental filling surfaces group.

^bThe incidence rate of reported arthritis was derived from NHANES survey data among those persons with reported arthritis in the year of the NHANES survey collection. Those persons with reported arthritis at any time prior to the year of the NHANES survey collection were eliminated from the analyses.