Eisen Colby H, Bowie Janice V, Gaskin Darrell J, LaVeist Thomas A, Thorpe Roland J
Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway Ste 441, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
J Urban Health. 2015 Jun;92(3):415-21. doi: 10.1007/s11524-015-9938-3.
Dental services use is a public health issue that varies by race. African Americans are less likely than whites to make use of these services. While several explanations exist, little is known about the role of segregation in understanding this race difference. Most research does not account for the confounding of race, socioeconomic status, and segregation. Using cross-sectional data from the Exploring Health Disparities in Integrated Communities Study, we examined the relationship between race and dental services use. Our primary outcome of interest was dental services use within 2 years. Our main independent variable was self-identified race. Of the 1408 study participants, 59.3% were African American. More African Americans used dental services within 2 years than whites. After adjusting for age, gender, marital status, income, education, insurance, self-rated health, and number of comorbidities, African Americans had greater odds of having used services (odds ratio = 1.48, 95% confidence interval 1.16, 1.89) within 2 years. Within this low-income racially integrated sample, African Americans participated in dental services more than whites. Place of living is an important factor to consider when seeking to understand race differences in dental service use.
牙科服务的使用是一个因种族而异的公共卫生问题。非裔美国人比白人使用这些服务的可能性更小。虽然存在多种解释，但对于种族隔离在理解这种种族差异中所起的作用知之甚少。大多数研究没有考虑到种族、社会经济地位和种族隔离之间的混杂因素。利用综合社区健康差异研究的横断面数据，我们研究了种族与牙科服务使用之间的关系。我们感兴趣的主要结果是两年内牙科服务的使用情况。我们的主要自变量是自我认定的种族。在1408名研究参与者中，59.3%是非裔美国人。在两年内使用牙科服务的非裔美国人比白人更多。在调整了年龄、性别、婚姻状况、收入、教育程度、保险、自我评估健康状况和合并症数量后，非裔美国人在两年内使用服务的几率更高（优势比=1.48，95%置信区间1.16，1.89）。在这个低收入的种族融合样本中，非裔美国人比白人更多地参与牙科服务。在试图理解牙科服务使用方面的种族差异时，居住地点是一个需要考虑的重要因素。
