Analysis of Dietary Related Factors of Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis among College Students
Analysis of Dietary Related Factors of Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis among College Students
Qian Du,1 Shenglou Ni,1 Yanling Fu,1 and Sanhai Liu2
1Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China
2Wenzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Zhejiang 325000, China
Correspondence should be addressed to Yanling Fu; nc.ude.mcub@gnilnayuf
Received 18 October 2017; Accepted 31 January 2018; Published 27 February 2018
Academic Editor: Cleofas Rodríguez-Blanco
Copyright © 2018 Qian Du et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Objective. We investigated the occurrence of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) among college students and its potential influence by dietary habits. Methods. Study of dietary habits and RAS among students in Beijing University of Chinese Medicine was carried by homemade questionnaire. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify RAS risk factors and explore their relations. Results. Among 1011 investigated college students, family history (odds ratio (OR) 1.678, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.192 to 2.364, ), bed late (OR 1.515, 95% CI 1.005 to 2.285, ), frequent thirst (OR 1.842, 95% CI 1.393 to 2.435, ), and frequent drinking carbonated beverages (OR 1.369, 95% CI 1.029 to 1.821, ) were independent risk factors for RAS, but preference for nuts (OR 0.607, 95% CI 0.448 to 0.824, ) was a protective factor. There was no statistical difference in fruit intake between RAS and non-RAS groups (χ2 = 5.249, ). Conclusions. Among college students, frequent drinking carbonated beverages or frequent thirst will increase its possibility, whereas preference for nuts provides protection. In addition, fruit intake does not have a positive effect.
1. Introduction
Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), or recurrent oral ulceration (ROU), is one of the most common oral mucosal diseases. According to worldwide epidemiological data, 2%–66% of the international population is affected [1, 2]. The prevalence of RAS is about 20% in China. The cause of the disease is complicated by its periodicity. In modern medicine, many factors including heredity, oral microbiome disorders, immunologic abnormalities, microcirculatory disturbances, trace element deficiencies, endocrine dyscrasia, and gastrointestinal dysfunction are related to RAS occurrence [3–7], but, to date, the exact etiology and pathogenesis are still unclear. With the change of the whole medical model to preventive medicine, there is an urgency in exploring the diet to interfere with the onset of the disease. Some scholars suggest that the incidence of RAS is closely related to diet, and dietary control has a good application value in its remission by effectively guiding the treatment [8, 9].
In previous studies of RAS relating to diet, some have suggested that spicy food and fried food are risk factors of RAS in the research on the relationship between RAS and bedtime or other pathogenic risk factors [10, 11]. Some scholars choose one or several allergic food(s) in RAS patients by intake or fast test to verify the correlation between RAS and these selected allergic foods [12–14]. Other research focuses on the beneficial effects on RAS by trace elements such as vitamin and dietary fiber and draws a conclusion that more intake of these trace-element-containing food items including grain, dairy product, and fruit can prevent or treat RAS [15]. These studies mentioned above only involve some or some kind of food, and systematic research on daily dietary habits in RAS, especially the possible difference in daily drinks including water intake or beverage, is rarely referred. It is noticed that both milk and grains have been confirmed to cause allergic reactions including RAS [16, 17]. Therefore, it is of great importance to systematically investigate the dietary related factors with RAS.
This study mainly focuses on investigating the prevalence of RAS among college students in Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, analyze the difference of daily dietary habits between RAS patients and the healthy people, and explore its potential influence on RAS. It is beneficial to provide some basis for RAS prevention and treatment in medical students and some guidance in the clinic in future.
2. Methods2.1. Subjects
Sixty college students were randomly selected to fill in the self-designed questionnaire after informed consent as a preinvestigation. The prevalence of RAS in preinvestigation was 30%. Based on the formula for estimating sample size, 900 is the baseline. Assume that the nonresponse rate is 10%, 1000 respondents will be suitable. The formula is as follows:where represents the size of sample, is the statistic in confidence level , is the expected proportion of target population, and is half width of confidence interval (erro (...truncated)