Atchison K A, Mayer-Oakes S A, Schweitzer S O, Lubben J E, De Jong F J, Matthias R E
School of Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1668.
J Public Health Dent. 1993 Spring;53(2):88-95. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-7325.1993.tb02681.x.
Previous studies have shown that dental utilization by older people is lower than for the general population. This study hypothesizes that an elder's tendency toward participating in preventive health activities may be an important factor in explaining the likelihood of accessing the dentist. Subjects included 1,911 older individuals who enrolled in the UCLA Medicare Screening and Health Promotion Trial. All were interviewed about their utilization of preventive health services and participation in preventive behaviors. A recent dental visit was positively associated with all sociodemographic variables examined except age and sex. It was also related to health status questions and utilization of the preventive health services and health behaviors studied. Logistic regression analysis showed that both summary preventive health behavior and preventive service utilization variables were important factors in explaining a recent dental visit (model chi-square = 221.4, P = .001) along with income, not having a removable prosthesis, and perceiving the need for dental care. This study showed that dental utilization is related to older people's participation in other preventive activities. When in contact with older people, health care professionals should consider current oral and general preventive health status and encourage appropriate referral for preventive activities.
以往研究表明，老年人的牙科就诊率低于普通人群。本研究假设，老年人参与预防性健康活动的倾向可能是解释其看牙医可能性的一个重要因素。研究对象包括1911名参加加州大学洛杉矶分校医疗保险筛查与健康促进试验的老年人。所有受试者均接受了关于其预防性健康服务利用情况和预防性健康行为参与情况的访谈。除年龄和性别外，最近一次看牙与所有被调查的社会人口统计学变量均呈正相关。它还与健康状况问题以及所研究的预防性健康服务利用情况和健康行为有关。逻辑回归分析表明，预防性健康行为汇总变量和预防性服务利用变量，连同收入、没有可摘义齿以及意识到需要牙科护理，都是解释最近一次看牙的重要因素（模型卡方值=221.4，P=0.001）。本研究表明，牙科就诊率与老年人参与其他预防性活动有关。在接触老年人时，医护人员应考虑其当前的口腔和一般预防性健康状况，并鼓励进行适当的预防性活动转诊。
