CHINESE HEALTH BELIEFS AND ORAL HEALTH PRACTICES AMONG THE MIDDLE-AGED AND THE ELDERLY IN HONG-KONG

The purpose of this paper was to study possible relationships between traditional Chinese health beliefs and health practices in adult Chine se in a modernized society. The study populations comprised 398 35-44- yr-old and 559 65-74-yr-old Hong Kong Chinese. The respondents were ca tegorized into three groups with weak, moderate, or strong Chinese bel iefs on the basis of interview questions on the causes of gum disease. Chinese preventive practices and Chinese pain practices were defined according to respondent's reported use of recommended traditional cure s. Questions on generally accepted oral practices were phrased in term s of frequency of daily brushing of teeth, use of toothpicks the previ ous day, and whether or not teeth were flossed the previous day. Aroun d one-third of the respondents had weak, almost one-half and moderate, and around one-quarter expressed strong Chinese health beliefs. No si gnificant differences in Chinese health beliefs were found between men and women in either age group, or between the age groups. In the 35-4 4 age group, more of those with a higher education were in the ''weak' ' Chinese health belief category, whereas, conversely, more of those w ith a lower education expressed stronger Chinese health beliefs (P<0.0 5). Women in both age groups reported significantly more frequent brus hing. Toothpicks were used by around three-quarters of both age groups , but flossing was extremely rare. Chinese preventive practices were r eported significantly more frequently by those in the older group who held strong Chinese health beliefs than those with moderate or weak be liefs, whereas the trend in the younger group was not significant. Chi nese pain practices were reported very infrequently. Chinese health be liefs did not correlate with use variables. In the older group, Chines e health beliefs correlated strongly with preventive practices and wit h knowledge.