Oral health behavior as a risk factor for high urinary sodium among Korean women

Background and Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between urinary sodium, urinary sodium/creatinine, and urinary sodium/urine specific gravity and oral health behavior using nationally representative data. Methods and Study Design: Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used; the sample analyzed in this study consisted a total of 15,013 respondents over 19 years old who had no missing values for the urinalysis or outcome variables. Urinary sodium was significantly lower in fem ales (p<0.05). Results: The rate of hypertension and diabetes was significantly lower in women (p<0.05). Adjusted odds ratios of urinary sodium and their 95% confidence intervals in relation to the frequency of tooth brushing (=1, 2, and =3 times per day, respectively) were 1, 0.898 (0.704, 1.145), and 0.734 (0.573, 0.939) for women (p<0.05). This association between sodium uptake and oral health behavior was independent of various potential confounding factors such as age, body mass index, smoking, drinking, exercise, diabetes, and hypertension. Conclusions: Poor oral health behavior was associated with higher sodium consumption in women. Oral health behavior may be considered an independent risk indicator for high urinary sodium in Korean women.