Oral health-related quality of life of children and adolescents with and without migration background in Germany

To compare oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in children and adolescents with and without migration background, and to assess whether potential differences in OHRQoL can be sufficiently explained by oral health characteristics.

A consecutive sample of 112 children and adolescents was recruited in a German university-based orthodontic clinic, and a convenience sample of 313 children and adolescents of German public schools was enrolled in the study (total N = 425, age range 7–17 years). However, 29 participants were excluded due to insufficient information regarding migration background. Accordingly, the non-migrant group consisted of 262 participants (61.6%). For children with migration background, two groups were classified: (i) one parent born in a foreign country (N = 41, 9.6%, single-sided migration background), and (ii) both parents and/or child born in a foreign country ( N= 93, 21.9%, double-sided migration background). OHRQoL was assessed using the German 19-item version of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP-G19). Additionally, physical oral health of 269 children with classified migration background was determined in a dental examination.

Overall, OHRQoL was significantly lower in the group with double-sided migration background indicated by lower COHIP-G19 summary scores (mean: 58.6 points) than in the group with single-sided migration background (mean: 63.3 points) or the non-migrant group (mean: 63.2 points). Likewise, the summary scores of the subscale “oral health well-being” and the subscale “social/emotional, school, and self-image” were also lower in the double-sided migrant group than in the other two groups. Linear regression analysis showed an association between double-sided migration background and impaired OHRQoL, even after statistically controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and oral health characteristics.

Children and adolescents with double-sided migration background have poorer OHRQoL than comparably aged migrants with single-sided migration background or non-migrations. Between-group differences in OHRQoL could not be sufficiently explained by effects of socioeconomic status or physical oral health characteristics. Thus, other methodological, cultural, or immigration-related factors might also play an important role for the observed effects.