Dental hygienist attendance and its covariates in an ageing Swedish cohort.

Delegation of tasks between professional groups is important to make health-care services accessible and effective for ageing people. Focussing on a Swedish 1942 birth cohort and guided by Andersen's Behavioral Model, this study assessed dental hygienist attendance from age 50 to age 70 and identified covariates at the population-averaged and person-specific levels. In 1992, a census of 50-yr-old subjects was invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. Of the 6,346 respondents, 3,585 completed follow-ups in 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted using a marginal model and a random intercept model. Cochran's Q test revealed that significantly more respondents confirmed dental hygienist attendance in 2012 than in 1992 (57.2% in 2012 vs. 26.0% in 1992). Population-averaged ORs for dental hygienist attendance across time were 3.5 at age 70 yr compared with age 50 yr (baseline); 2.0 if being a regular rather than an irregular dental attendee; and 0.7 if being of non-native origin compared with native origin. The corresponding person-specific ORs were 8.9, 3.2, and 0.5. Consistent with Andersen's Behavioral Model, predisposing, enabling, and need-related factors were associated with dental hygienist attendance at population-averaged and person-specific levels. This has implications for promoting dental hygienist attendance among ageing people.