Methodology

This descriptive cross-sectional study included 108 university of Zimbabwe students who were
selected through simple random sampling. Students coming through the main gate were asked to
pick a piece of paper with a letter (A or B) and all those who pick the letter A will be selected to
participate in the study. Only consenting students who are 18years or above were included in the
study through an interviewer administered questionnaire.The variables studied included gender ,
Age and questions regarding knowledge about halitosis bad breath, How often they experience
bad breath ,Whether they got any treatment for the problem, What they are currently using to
treat their bad breath ,What they think causes halitosis bad breath . Students ’ self-evaluation of
halitosis was also included in the questionnaire as a general question on a dichotomous scale of
1-10 . The data were anonymized and maintained with confidentiality .The Research Ethics
Committee in the department of oral health approved this study process on 7 June 2022.
To analyze the data, R statistical software version (4.2.1) was used on the Rstudio interface.
Descriptive statistics such as the mean and standard deviation were calculated for all numeric
variables such as age and rating. Bar charts and tables were also used to give a clear presentation
of the results. For further descriptive statistical analysis of the independent variables,percentages
were calculated . Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test if the mean rating differed
between males and females and as well test if there was significant difference in mean rating for
students in health sciences and those in other faculties. A simple t.test was also used in cases
were there were only two groups .The respondents were further put into age groups through the
use of the age variable The Chi-square test was done to investigate the relationship between the
qualitative variables. The significance level in this study was considered 0.05.
 RESULTS
The results show that there more males (N=82) than females (N=26) who took part in the
study.The Mean and standard deviation of students ’ age per gender in this study were 27 and 2
for females as well as 28 and 3 for males .The results of the t-test showed that there was no
significance difference in mean age between males and females (p=0.24) at 5% level of
significance .The mean bad breath rating was also found to be more in males (6± 2) than in
females (4± 2¿ and the t test showed that there was significant difference in mean rating between
males and females (p=0.043). Considering the higher frequency of teeth brushing and the use of
dental floss among girls, it seems that the difference is due to the higher level of health in girls
compared to boys.. A Chi-square test showed that there was a statistical significant relationship
between gender and knowledge of halitosis bad breath (P=0.033).

Table 1 summary statistics by Gender

Characteristic F, N = 261 M, N = 821 Test Statistic p-value2

age 27 (2) 28 (3) -1.2 0.24

bad breath rating 3 (2) 6 (2) -0.45 0.043

Do you know what halitosis bad

4.5 0.033
breath is

No 16 / 26 (62%) 31 / 82 (38%)

YES 10 / 26 (38%) 51 / 82 (62%)

Which faculty are you from 0.70 0.40

Health sciences 9 / 26 (35%) 36 / 82 (44%)

Other faculties 17 / 26 (65%) 46 / 82 (56%)

1
Mean (SD); n / N (%)
2
Welch Two Sample t-test; Pearson's Chi-squared test
The graph shows that from the survey that was made,56% have knowledge about halitosis bad
breath as compared to those who do not have an idea who constituted 44%. It is clear from the
results that more man than women knew about this disease.
 Table 2 summary statistics by knowledge of halitosis bad breath
Characteristic No, N = 471 YES, N = 611 Test Statistic p-value2
Age 27 (3) 29 (2) -4.3 <0.001

Do you think bad breath affects your social life 0.35 0.55

No 18 / 47 (38%) 20 / 61 (33%)

Yes 29 / 47 (62%) 41 / 61 (67%)

Which faculty are you enrolled under 38 <0.001

Health sciences 4 / 47 (8.5%) 41 / 61 (67%)

Other faculties 43 / 47 (91%) 20 / 61 (33%)

How bad is your bad breath rate from 1-10 5 (2) 5 (2) 0.02 0.99
1
Mean (SD); n / N (%)
2
Welch Two Sample t-test; Pearson's Chi-squared test

The table above summarizes the relationship between knowledge of halitosis and other
variables. It can be noted that out of the whole sample of 108 students, more people reported
that they knew about halitosis bad breath (N=61) as compared to those who had no knowledge
about the disease (N=47).The chi-squared test revealed that there was a significant relationship
between knowledge of halitosis bad breath and the faculty that a student was enrolled in. The
majority of students who claimed to know about halitosis bad breath came from the faculty of
health sciences 67%(n=41) and majority of those who did not know came from other faculties
(N=43).
 Table 3 summary statistics by age group

The age variable was transformed into age ranges as shown in the above table 3 .The table shows
that majority of the respondents were in the 27-32 (N=53) age group and also in the 24-27 age
group (N=45). The chi-squared test showed a significant relationship between age group and
having knowledge of halitosis bad breath (p=0.019) ,this implies that knowledge of the disease
depends with the age-group that a particular individual is found in .A one way analysis of
variance also revealed that there is significant difference in mean rating between age groups
(F=3.5,p=0.018) and we see from the results ages above 24 years have a much higher rating of
bad breath.

The graph above shows the respondents` perception regarding the smell of their breath. The
greatest percentages were of those who reported that their breath smelled stinky and foul ,these
people constituted 33.33% and 36.11% respectively. Generally most of the respondents
considered their breath to be having an unpleasant smell which can be seen from the majority
reporting that their breath smell is foul, stinky, bitter and garlic.
Table 4 summary statistics by faculty

The table above summarizes the results by faculty ,results show that majority of the respondents
were from other faculties (N=63) while the rest were from faculty of health sciences (N=45). It
can be seen that regardless of the faculty that one is enrolled in, many find bad breath to have a
huge impact on their social life, Generally 69%(n=31) and 62%(n=39) from faculty of health
sciences and other faculties respectively ,considered bad breath to be affecting their social life.
The graph above shows that majority consult their family doctor (33%) or Dentist (45%) for this
problem.
Figure 1 distribution of age groups in years
Figure 2 wordcloud showing different perceptions relating to the causes of halitosis bad breath

The wordcloud gives perceptions from the students regarding the causes of halitosis bad breath.It
shows the most frequent words that the students mentioned when asked what to give the causes
of halitosis bad breath. The results show that students have a rough idea regarding the causes of
the problem. Some of the frequent ideas include causes due to smoking ,eating spicy food,
bacteria, not brushing teeth as well as acids.
Table 5 : summary statistics for Prevalence against other variables
 Table 6 : prevalence against important variables

Characteristic NO, N = 411 YES, N = 671 p-value2 Test Statistic

Age group 0.001

18-23 3 / 41 (7.3%) 2 / 67 (3.0%)

24-27 25 / 41 (61%) 20 / 67 (30%)

27-32 11 / 41 (27%) 42 / 67 (63%)

33 and over 2 / 41 (4.9%) 3 / 67 (4.5%)

gender 0.039 0.75

F 8 / 41 (20%) 18 / 67 (27%)

M 33 / 41 (80%) 49 / 67 (73%)

Which faculty are you enrolled under 0.001 10

Health sciences 25 / 41 (61%) 20 / 67 (30%)

Other faculties 16 / 41 (39%) 47 / 67 (70%)

n / N (%)
1

Fisher's exact test; Pearson's Chi-squared test

2

Comments
The table shows that a lot of people who have halitosis bad breath are in the 27-32 and 24-27
age group and hey constitute 63% and 30% respectively. It can also be noted that there is high
and significant association between prevalence and age group (p=0.001). The greatest percentage
among those who have the problem is among those who are males (73%).At 5% level of
significance there is association between gender and prevalence (p=0.039).From the table it can
also be noted that other faculties other than health sciences have a higher prevalence (70%) and
there is significant association between prevalence and faculty that a student is enrolled in
(p=0.001) .