Co-Payments and Inequality in Gingival Bleeding and Dental Visits.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Japan's universal health insurance covers a wide range of dental treatments, and the co-payment rates differ by age. We investigated whether the inequality in gingival bleeding and dental visits was smaller amongst those with lower co-payment rates.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used data from the 2019 Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study. The participants were functionally independent adults aged 65 years or older. The dependent variables were current gingival bleeding as a symptom of periodontal diseases and dental nonattendance for treatment in the past year. The independent variables were ridit scores of equivalent income and educational status. For covariates, we used age, sex, and the number of remaining teeth. To evaluate the inequalities, we used the

SUBMITTER: Nakazawa N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10509420 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature