Department of Public Health, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Foundational Sciences, School of Dental Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
J Public Health Dent. 2023 Jun;83(2):161-168. doi: 10.1111/jphd.12563. Epub 2023 Mar 7.
To assess disparities in preventive dental service use in four major racial/ethnic groups and assess whether racial/ethnic and income-related disparities among children were reduced from 2016 to 2020.
Data were from the 2016 and 2020 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). The outcomes of interest were having dental sealants, fluoride treatment, and dental caries in the past 12 months. Racial/ethnic groups included non-Hispanic (NH) whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and others. Family income level was categorized as below or above the 200% federal poverty level (low-income vs. high-income). Children ages 2-17 were included (N = 161,539). All data were self-reported by parents/guardians. We estimated the trends of racial/ethnic disparities in having fluoride treatment, dental sealants, and dental caries from 2016 to 2020 and tested two 2-way interactions (i.e., year by race/ethnicity, year by income) and one 3-way interaction (year by income by race/ethnicity) to assess the change in disparities from 2016 to 2020.
Overall, no significant trends in receipt of fluoride treatment, dental sealants, or having dental caries were found from 2016 to 2020 among the racial/ethnic groups, except for a decreasing trend in dental sealants for Asian American children (p = 0.03). Overall, NH white children were more likely to have received preventive dental services than children from minority groups (all p < 0.05); Asian American children (AOR = 1.31) were more likely to have dental caries than NH white children.
Disparities in receipt of evidence-based preventive services by children persisted. Continuous efforts are needed to promote the use of preventive dental services among children of minority populations.
评估四个主要种族/族裔群体在预防牙科服务使用方面的差异，并评估 2016 年至 2020 年期间儿童的种族/族裔和收入相关差异是否减少。
数据来自 2016 年和 2020 年全国儿童健康调查（NSCH）。感兴趣的结果是在过去 12 个月内是否有牙釉质封闭剂、氟化物治疗和龋齿。种族/族裔群体包括非西班牙裔（NH）白种人、黑种人、西班牙裔、亚洲人和其他人。家庭收入水平分为低于或高于联邦贫困线 200%（低收入与高收入）。纳入年龄在 2-17 岁的儿童（N=161539）。所有数据均由父母/监护人自行报告。我们估计了 2016 年至 2020 年期间不同种族/族裔之间在接受氟化物治疗、牙釉质封闭剂和龋齿方面的差异趋势，并测试了两个 2 路交互（即，年份与种族/族裔，年份与收入）和一个 3 路交互（年份与收入与种族/族裔），以评估 2016 年至 2020 年期间差异的变化。
总体而言，除了亚裔美国儿童的牙釉质封闭剂使用呈下降趋势（p=0.03）外，2016 年至 2020 年期间，各种族/族裔群体在接受氟化物治疗、牙釉质封闭剂或发生龋齿方面均未出现显著趋势。总体而言，NH 白种人儿童比少数族裔群体的儿童更有可能接受预防牙科服务（均 p<0.05）；与 NH 白种人儿童相比，亚裔美国儿童（优势比=1.31）更有可能发生龋齿。
儿童接受循证预防服务的差异仍然存在。需要持续努力，促进少数族裔儿童使用预防牙科服务。
