Avlund Kirsten, Holm-Pedersen Poul, Morse Douglas E, Viitanen Matti, Winblad Bengt
Department of Social Medicine, Institute of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
J Public Health Dent. 2005 Fall;65(4):231-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.2005.tb03023.x.
The objective of the present study is to analyze how two dimensions of social position, education and social class, are associated with oral health among generally healthy, community-dwelling persons over the age of 80 years.
The present investigation is based on a sample of 157 community-dwelling individuals from The Kungsholmen Elders Oral Health Study (KEOHS) and included data from interviews and oral examinations. Social position was measured by education and social class. Oral health was measured by active coronal caries, active root caries, edentulism and use of dental services.
The primary findings of the adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis were that, compared to persons who had been in higher positions, persons who had been blue-collar/ white-collar workers had significantly greater odds of having coronal caries and high, but nonsignificant odds of being edentulous. Further, persons with elementary/ medium education tended to forego regular dental services more than persons with high education.
The study identified social inequalities in oral health even in a population of independently living, generally healthy very old Swedes and in a country where the public health policies have tried to minimize these inequalities.
本研究旨在分析社会地位的两个维度，即教育程度和社会阶层，与80岁以上一般健康的社区居住者的口腔健康之间的关联。
本调查基于来自 Kungsholmen 老年人口腔健康研究（KEOHS）的157名社区居住个体的样本，并纳入了访谈和口腔检查的数据。社会地位通过教育程度和社会阶层来衡量。口腔健康通过恒牙冠龋、根面龋、无牙情况和牙科服务使用情况来衡量。
调整后的多变量逻辑回归分析的主要结果是，与处于较高社会地位的人相比，曾经是蓝领/白领工人的人患冠龋的几率显著更高，无牙的几率虽高但不显著。此外，与受过高等教育的人相比，受过小学/中等教育的人更倾向于放弃定期牙科服务。
该研究表明，即使在独立生活、一般健康的瑞典高龄人群中，以及在一个公共卫生政策试图尽量减少这些不平等现象的国家，口腔健康方面也存在社会不平等。
