The relationship between demographic and health-related factors on dental service attendance by older Australians.

OBJECTIVE

To determine factors associated with dental attendance by those of 60 years or older in a population-based sample.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional national health survey.

SETTING

The study used data from the Australian 1995 National Health Survey, which consisted of people interviewed by households.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A total of 7,544 eligible respondents randomly selected by households from defined statistical areas.Main outcome measures The main outcome investigated in this study was having had a dental visit in the previous 12 months.

MAIN RESULTS

Age, income, level of social disadvantage, level of education, uptake of private health insurance, smoking, exercise, self assessment of health and having a health concession card all independently influenced the attendance ratios. In combination, after adjusting for all other factors, factors associated with having visited a dentist for males were age, years of schooling, level of social disadvantage, exercise level index, possession of a health concession card and smoking status. Factors associated with having visited for females were age, education, exercise, smoking status and some levels of the interaction between possession of a health concession card and level of social disadvantage.

CONCLUSIONS

The strong influence of age, education, exercise and smoking status indicated a need to target dental services towards those elderly persons in low attendance groups, which mostly represented disadvantaged groups.