Characteristics of dental care-seeking behavior and related sociodemographic factors in a middle-aged and elderly population in northeast China

BMC Oral Health

Ruibo Cheng¹  Wei Wu²  Ying Zhang¹  Lu Liu¹ 

[1] Department of Preventive Dentistry, School of Stomatology, China Medical University, Shenyang 110002, China;Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, China

关键词: Sociodemographic factors;    Northeast China;    Dental care-seeking behavior;   

Others  :  1213726
DOI  :  10.1186/s12903-015-0053-3

 received in 2014-11-26, accepted in 2015-06-03,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

The etiologies of oral disease are generally progressive and cumulative, such that compared with younger individuals, middle-aged and elderly people are at greater risk of active dental caries and periodontal disease risk. They usually suffer from multiple oral diseases, and obstacles to their use of dental care services are numerous.

Objectives

The objectives of this study were to investigate the characteristics of dental care-seeking behaviors and related sociodemographic factors in a middle-aged and elderly population in northeast China.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study of 1188 subjects, including 792 middle-aged (35–44 years-old) and 396 elderly (65–74 years-old) residents of northeast China. Information on dental care-seeking behaviors and sociodemographic characteristics was collected during face-to-face structured interviews conducted between May and June 2010. Chi square tests, Ridit scoring, and multivariate logistic regression analysis were employed to characterize dental care-seeking behaviors and their associations with sociodemographic factors.

Results

A greater proportion of middle-aged participants reported a need for dental visits compared with the elderly participants (75.8 % vs. 60.9 %; P < 0.01), as did more urban that rural residents (P < 0.05). The majority of individuals in both the middle-aged and elderly groups obtained for dental care at their own expense, and they predominantly chose private dental clinics. Ridit analyses showed that education level and income were significantly associated with oral care in both middle-aged and elderly people (Ps < 0.05). In addition, logistic regression analysis indicated that rural residence was negatively associated with dental visits in both middle-aged (odds ratio = 0.649, 95 % confidence interval: 0.447–0.884) and elderly (odds ratio = 0.604, 95 % confidence interval: 0.394–0.924) individuals.

Conclusion

The rate of dental care visits is low in the middle-aged and elderly populations of northeast China. Among sociodemographic factors, education level and income are positively associated with dental care visits, and rural residence is negatively associated with the frequency of such visits.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Liu et al.

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