title: Socioeconomic factors and dental caries in developing countries: a cross-national study.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to analyze statistically correlations between socioeconomic factors and the prevalence of dental caries in developing countries. The DMFT index, which evaluates the incidence of dental caries, showed a positive correlation (P < 0.01) with several socioeconomic factors, such as life expectancy, adult literacy rate, school attendance rate, population employed in the service sector, population aged 15-64 years, and urban population. According to multiple regression analysis, population aged 15-64 years, population employed in the service sector, and urban population were the most influential independent socioeconomic variables, in descending order, with a regression coefficient of 0.635 and a coefficient of determination of 0.404 (P < 0.001). This finding suggests that the prevalence of dental caries in developing countries increases with the degree of urbanization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haraguchi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Umenai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D003906:Developing Countries; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014507:Urbanization