General- and Oral-Health-Related Predisposing Factors for Interrupting Military Service in the Finnish Defence Forces

INTRODUCTION: Finland’s security policy relies heavily on its own independent national defense, which is based on conscription. In 2011, 26,492 conscripts started their military service in Finland. Of these, 1,706 interrupted their military service and 191 changed to civilian service. Conscripts who interrupt their service seem to have an increased tendency to smoking, alcohol consumption, and taking snuff, which previous studies suggest to have strong associations with the need for restorative dental treatment and with lower socioeconomic status. The aim of this study was to compare the general and oral health habits between Finnish conscripts who interrupt their service and those who completed their military service and to find out what general- and oral-health-related factors could be used in predicting interruption of service. METHODS: The study population consisted of 13,819 conscripts taking an oral examination during the service. Of these, 8,449 answered a computer-based anamnestic questionnaire and 264 interrupted their service. Predisposing factors on the anamnestic questionnaire for interrupting military service were evaluated by using a binary logistic regression model. The statistically significant factors were selected to form a sum variable which finally consisted of seven predisposing questions. Odds ratio (OR) values and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each question and for the sum variable. Predictive accuracy was assessed by area under the receiver-operating curve. RESULTS: The most obvious predisposing factor among those who interrupted their service compared to the reference group was lack of weekly physical exercise (OR = 5.80). The risk for interruption of military service was 68.6 times higher in cases where a subject exhibited six predisposing factors out of seven compared to those who had none. CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, a set of statistically chosen anamnestic questions could help identify conscripts who have an increased risk of interruption of military service in addition to a risk of dental problems.