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Social disparities in periodontitis among United States adults 1999–2004
Author(s) -
Borrell Luisa N.,
Crawford Natalie D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.2007.00406.x
Subject(s) - medicine , periodontitis , ethnic group , demography , race (biology) , gerontology , white (mutation) , national health and nutrition examination survey , health equity , dentistry , public health , environmental health , population , nursing , chemistry , botany , sociology , anthropology , gene , biology , biochemistry
– Objectives: To investigate whether race/ethnicity, income, and education are independently associated with periodontitis; and to investigate the effect of adjusting for income and education on the association between race/ethnicity and periodontitis in the National Health and Examination Nutrition Surveys 1999–2004. Methods: Analyses were limited to records of non‐Hispanic black, non‐Hispanic white or Mexican‐American adults ( n = 10 648). SUDAAN was used to estimate the strength of the association of race/ethnicity, education, and income with the prevalence of periodontitis before and after adjusting for selected characteristics and risk factors. Results: The prevalence of periodontitis was 3.6%, with Black people (7.2%) exhibiting significantly higher prevalence than Mexican Americans (4.4%) and White people (3.0%, P < 0.01). After adjusting for selected sociodemographic characteristics, black adults, those with less than a high school education and those with low income were 1.94 (95% CI 1.46–2.58), 2.06 (95% CI 1.47–2.89) and 1.89 (95% CI 1.18–3.04) times more likely to have periodontitis than White people, those with more than a high school diploma and those with high income, respectively. Conclusions: This study indicates that inequalities in periodontitis associated with race/ethnicity, education and income continue to be pervasive in the US over the years.