Sociodemographic inequities in dental care utilisation among governmental welfare recipients in Japan: a retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maintaining oral health is one of the global public health challenges. Income and out-of-pocket payments for dental care services are predictors of dental care utilisation. Although public assistance programmes guarantee income security for impoverished people, access barriers other than financial costs may cause unmet dental care needs. We aimed to explore the potential sociodemographic factors determining dental care utilisation among recipients of public assistance in Japan using linkage data of public assistance database and medical assistance claim data administered by municipalities.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study involving a sample of public assistance recipients. We extracted the recipients' sociodemographic data (age, sex, household number,

SUBMITTER: Nishioka D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8207738 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature