Abstract:
Oral health is a major health concern in the US and globally, particularly among communities of color and low-income/low-education groups. General health disparities have been reported among Native Hawaiians (NHs) and Other Pacific Islanders (OPIs), although less is known about the specific racial/ethnic and socioeconomic trends that are relevant to oral health disparities for NHOPIs. We examined delayed dental visits and severe tooth loss among older NHOPI adults in relation to sociodemographic factors and community level disparities using five waves of data from the Hawai\'i Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System collected between 2012 and 2020. Weighted Poisson regression was used to estimate the unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratio of delayed dental service utilization and severe tooth loss. Relative to other racial/ethnic groups, older NHs had higher rates of delayed dental service utilization and severe tooth loss after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, and disparities were also found in rural communities.Awareness of the unique challenges and inequities faced by older Indigenous and racially/ethnically marginalized populations is critical for policymakers to develop strategies to achieve health equity.
摘要:
口腔健康是美国和全球的主要健康问题,特别是在有色人种社区和低收入/低教育群体中。据报道,夏威夷原住民(NHs)和其他太平洋岛民(OPIs)之间存在总体健康差异,尽管对与NHOPIs口腔健康差异相关的特定种族/族裔和社会经济趋势知之甚少。我们使用2012年至2020年收集的来自夏威夷行为风险因素监测系统的五波数据,研究了老年NHOPI成年人的延迟牙科就诊和严重牙齿脱落与社会人口统计学因素和社区水平差异的关系。加权泊松回归用于估计延迟牙科服务利用和严重牙齿脱落的未调整和调整的患病率。相对于其他种族/族裔群体,在调整社会人口统计学因素后,年龄较大的NHs延迟牙科服务利用率和严重牙齿脱落率较高,在农村社区也发现了差距。意识到老年人和种族/族裔边缘化人口面临的独特挑战和不平等对于决策者制定实现健康公平的战略至关重要。