Association between the number of convenience stores and caries status in permanent teeth among elementary school children: results from the A-CHILD population-based longitudinal cohort study

Nobutoshi Nawa; Hisaaki Nishimura; Yusuke Matsuyama; Satomi Doi; Aya Isumi; Takeo Fujiwara

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1228197

Association between the number of convenience stores and caries status in permanent teeth among elementary school children: results from the A-CHILD population-based longitudinal cohort study

Front Public Health. 2023 Oct 26:11:1228197. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1228197. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Nobutoshi Nawa¹, Hisaaki Nishimura¹, Yusuke Matsuyama¹, Satomi Doi², Aya Isumi², Takeo Fujiwara¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan.
² Department of Health Policy, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

Background: In Japan, people have rich access to 24-h convenience stores where they can buy sweets, juice and fluoride hygiene products, among others. However, the association between the number of convenience stores in a neighbourhood and caries in elementary school children status has not been studied. This study aimed to investigate this particular association.

Methods: Data were derived from a population-based longitudinal cohort study (A-CHILD study) of elementary school children from first-grade to fourth-grade in Adachi City, Tokyo. Caregivers were asked to complete a questionnaire in 2015, 2016, and 2018. A total of 3,136 caregivers provided a valid response. We analysed the association using multilevel Poisson regression.

Results: The mean number of caries among children in school districts with low, middle, and high number of convenience stores was 0.31 (SD: 0.81), 0.21 (SD: 0.69), and 0.16 (SD: 0.58). After covariate adjustment, children in the school districts with high and middle number of convenience stores had 44% (mean ratio 0.56, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.998) and 31% (mean ratio 0.69, 95% CI: 0.42, 1.13) fewer caries in their permanent teeth, respectively, than children in the school districts with low number of convenience stores. We also found dose-response relationship (p for trend: 0.042).

Conclusion: Higher number of convenience stores in a school district was associated with fewer caries in permanent teeth among elementary school children. Further study elucidating the mechanism on this protective association is warranted.

Keywords: Japan; caries; geographic information systems; longitudinal study; social epidemiology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Commerce
Dental Caries Susceptibility*
Humans
Japan / epidemiology
Longitudinal Studies
Schools*

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a Health Labour Sciences Research Grant, Comprehensive Research on Lifestyle Disease from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H27-Jyunkankito-ippan-002), Research of Policy Planning and Evaluation from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H29-Seisaku-Shitei-004), Innovative Research Program on Suicide Countermeasures (IRPSC), and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 16H03276, 16 K21669, 17 J05974, 17 K13245, 19 K19310, 19 K14029, 19 K19309, 19 K20109, 19 K14172, 19 J01614, 19H04879, 20 K13945, and 21H04848), St. Luke’s Life Science Institute Grants, the Japan Health Foundation Grants, and Research-Aid (Designated Theme), Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.