Nyakutsikwa B, Allen T, Walsh T, Pretty I, Birch S, Tickle M, Moore D
Division of Dentistry, The University of Manchester, UK.
Manchester Centre for Health Economics, Manchester, UK.
Community Dent Health. 2022 Nov 30;39(4):247-253. doi: 10.1922/CDH_00092Nyakutsikwa07.
In England, around 10% of the population receive optimally fluoridated water. This coverage has evolved through a combination of historical local decision-making and natural geography, rather than being strategically targeted at the national level. It is important to understand if the current distribution is equitable according to indicators of oral health need and to identify any population-level differences in socio-demographic characteristics that could introduce bias to studies evaluating the effectiveness of water fluoridation.
Descriptive analysis comparing the census characteristics of populations that received optimally fluoridated (=/⟩ 0.7 mg F/L) and non-fluoridated water (⟨0.7 mg F/L) between 2009 and 2020.
Populations receiving fluoridated water between 2009-2020 were on average slightly younger, more urban, more deprived, with lower education levels, higher unemployment and lower car and home ownership than the populations who received non-fluoridated water. They are more ethnically diverse, with a higher proportion of Asian ethnicity and a lower proportion of White ethnicity, compared to the non-fluoridated population.
This descriptive analysis provides evidence that water fluoridation coverage within England is targeted reasonably equitably in relation to population-level indicators of need. It also confirms the need to consider the impact of underlying differences in age, deprivation, rurality, and ethnicity when evaluating the impact of water fluoridation on health outcomes in England.
在英国，约10%的人口饮用最佳氟化水。这种覆盖范围是历史上地方决策和自然地理因素共同作用的结果，而非在国家层面进行战略定位。了解当前的分布情况是否根据口腔健康需求指标公平合理，以及确定社会人口特征方面是否存在可能对评估水氟化效果的研究产生偏差的人群层面差异，这一点很重要。
描述性分析，比较2009年至2020年间饮用最佳氟化水（=/⟩ 0.7毫克氟/升）和非氟化水（⟨0.7毫克氟/升）人群的人口普查特征。
2009 - 2020年间饮用氟化水的人群平均年龄略小，城市化程度更高，贫困程度更高，教育水平更低，失业率更高，汽车和住房拥有率更低，与饮用非氟化水的人群相比。他们的种族更加多样化，亚洲族裔比例更高，白种族裔比例更低。
这项描述性分析提供了证据，表明英国的水氟化覆盖范围在人口层面需求指标方面的目标设定相当公平。它还证实了在评估水氟化对英国健康结果的影响时，需要考虑年龄、贫困、农村地区和种族等潜在差异的影响。
