Association between oral health-related quality of life and depressive symptoms in Chinese college students: Fitness Improvement Tactics in Youths (FITYou) project

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate a gender-specific association between oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and depressive symptoms in college students, as there are limited relevant studies conducted among youths. METHODS: In 2017, a cross-sectional study of 3461 Chinese college students was conducted in Shenyang, China. OHRQoL and depressive symptoms were screened by a 14-item oral health impact profile questionnaire and a Self-rating Depression Scale, respectively. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association of OHRQoL with depressive symptoms. RESULTS: The number of youths reported to have depressive symptoms was 20.7%. A univariate analysis showed that categories with a OHRQoL score over 6 were more likely to have a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms compared to the category with a score of 0 (male: ORs [95% CI]: 3.10, 2.05–4.68, P < 0.001; female: ORs [95% CI]: 3.11, 2.38–4.05, P < 0.001). Similar results were observed after adjusting for sociodemographic, anthropometric, and lifestyle-related covariates (male: ORs [95% CI]: 3.07, 1.98–4.76, P < 0.001; female: ORs [95% CI]: 2.90, 2.21–3.81, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: College students who have higher OHRQoL tend to have a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms.