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. 2022 Jan 5;19(1):582. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19010582

Table 1.

Operationalization of study variables and their categorization for statistical analyses.

Variables Questions Original Responses Categorization for Analyses
Social determinants
Sex What is your sex?

  1. Male

  2. Female

  1. Male

  2. Female
Ethnicity What is your ethnicity?

  1. Lithuanian

  2. Russian

  3. Belorussian

  4. Ukrainian

  5. Polish

  6. Other

  1. Lithuanian (1)

  2. Other (2–6)
Education Years in school In full years In full years
Biological determinants
Age How old are you?
 In full years In full years
Systemic diseases Do you have any systemtic diseases?

  1. No

  2. Yes

  1. No

  2. Yes
What kind of systemtic diseases do you have? Specifying the diseases

  1. Cardiovascular diseases

  2. Diabetes

  3. Thyroid diseases

  4. Other diseases
Use of medication Do you use any medications on a regular basis?

  1. No

  2. Yes

  1. No

  2. Yes
What kind of medications do you use? Specifying the medications

  1. For cardiovascular diseases

  2. For diabetes

  3. For thyroid diseases

  4. Other medications
Behavioral determinants
Smoking frequency
(Cigarettes)		 How often do you smoke cigarettes?

  1. Never

  2. Seldom

  3. Several times a month

  4. Once a week

  5. Several times a week

  6. Everyday

  1. Never (1)

  2. Smoker (2–6)
Alcohol use During the past 30 days, on the days you drank alcohol, how many drinks did you usually drink per day?

  1. <1 drink

  2. 1 drink

  3. 2 drinks

  4. 3 drinks

  5. 4 drinks

  6. 5 or more drinks

  7. Did not drink alcohol during past 30 days

  1. Did not use alcohol (7)

  2. Used alcohol (1–6)
Sugar-containing diet How often do you eat or drink any of the following foods, even in small quantities?
(cake, sweet buns/breads, jam, honey, sweets, candies, soft drinks, tea with sugar, coffee with sugar)

  1. Never/seldom

  2. Several times a month

  3. Once a week

  4. Several times a week

  5. Every day

  6. Several times a day

  1. Lower intake of sweets/sugar beverages (sum score ≤ 16)

  2. Moderate intake of sweets/sugar beverages (sum score 17–27)

  3. Higher intake of sweets/sugar beverages (sum score ≥ 28)

Used as a dummy variable with category 1 as reference.
Time of the last dental visit How long is it since you last saw a dentist?

  1. <6 months

  2. Within 6–12 months

  3. 1 year but <2 years

  4. ≥2 years but <5 years

  5. ≥5 years

  6. Never had dental visit

  1. Last year (1–2)

  2. >1 year ago (3–6)
Use of fluoridated toothpaste Do you use a toothpaste that contains fluoride?

  1. Yes

  2. No

  3. Don’t know

  1. Yes

  2. No/don’t know
Toothbrushing frequency How often do you clean your teeth?

  1. Never

  2. Once a month

  3. 2–3 times a month

  4. Once a week

  5. 2–6 times a week

  6. Once a day

  7. Twice or more a day

  1. ≥Twice a day (7)

  2. ≤Once a day (1–6)
Psychosocial determinants
PSS-10 PSS-10 questions

  1. Never

  2. Almost never

  3. Sometimes

  4. Quite often

  5. Very usually

  1. Lower perceived stress (scores 0–13)

  2. Moderate perceived stress (scores 14–26)

  3. Higher perceived stress (scores 27–40)

Used as a dummy variable with category 1 as reference.
Oral health outcomes (based on clinical examinations)
Dental caries experience Total number of decayed, missing, and filled surfaces (D3MFS score) D3MFS score D3MFS score
Periodontal status Number of teeth with periodontal probing depth PPD 4+mm/number of teeth x 100% Ratio of PPD 4+mm (%) Ratio of PPD 4+mm (%)
Missing teeth Total number of missing teeth Number of missing teeth Number of missing teeth

χ2 test for comparison of proportions between groups, and independent samples t-test for comparison of means between two groups.