Geo-mapping of time trends in childhood caries risk - a method for assessment of preventive care
(2012) In BMC Oral Health 12.- Abstract
- Background: Dental caries is unevenly distributed within populations with a higher burden in low socio-economy groups. Several attempts have been made to allocate resources to those that need them the most; there is a need for convenient approaches to population-based monitoring of caries risk over time. The aim of this study was to develop the geo-map concept, addressing time trends in caries risk, and demonstrate the novel approach by analyzing epidemiological data from preschool residents in the region of Halland, Sweden. Methods: The study population consisted of 9,973 (2006) and 10,927 (2010) children between 3 to 6 years of age (similar to 77% of the eligible population) from whom caries data were obtained. Reported dmfs >0 for a... (More)
- Background: Dental caries is unevenly distributed within populations with a higher burden in low socio-economy groups. Several attempts have been made to allocate resources to those that need them the most; there is a need for convenient approaches to population-based monitoring of caries risk over time. The aim of this study was to develop the geo-map concept, addressing time trends in caries risk, and demonstrate the novel approach by analyzing epidemiological data from preschool residents in the region of Halland, Sweden. Methods: The study population consisted of 9,973 (2006) and 10,927 (2010) children between 3 to 6 years of age (similar to 77% of the eligible population) from whom caries data were obtained. Reported dmfs >0 for a child was considered as the primary caries outcome. Each study individual was geo-coded with respect to his/her residence parish (66 parishes in the region). Smoothed caries risk geo-maps, along with corresponding statistical certainty geo-maps, were produced by using the free software Rapid Inquiry Facility and the ESRI (R) ArcGIS system. Parish-level socioeconomic data were available. Results: The overall proportion of caries-free (dmfs = 0) children improved from 84.0% in 2006 to 88.6% in 2010. The ratio of maximum and minimum (parish-level) smoothed relative risks (SmRRs) increased from 1.76/0.44 = 4.0 in 2006 to 2.37/0.33 = 7.2 in 2010, which indicated an increased geographical polarization of early childhood caries in the population. Eight parishes showed evidential, positional changes in caries risk between 2006 and 2010; their corresponding SmRRs and statistical certainty ranks changed markedly. No considerable parallel changes in parish-level socioeconomic characteristics were seen during the same time period. Conclusion: Geo-maps based on caries risk can be used to monitor changes in caries risk over time. Thus, geo-mapping offers a convenient tool for evaluating the effectiveness of tailored health promotion and preventive care in child populations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3504090
- author
- Strömberg, Ulf LU ; Holmen, Anders ; Magnusson, Kerstin and Twetman, Svante
- organization
- publishing date
- 2012
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Caries, Children, Prevention, Geo-mapping, Time trend
- in
- BMC Oral Health
- volume
- 12
- article number
- 9
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000313322000001
- scopus:84862200185
- pmid:22510486
- ISSN
- 1472-6831
- DOI
- 10.1186/1472-6831-12-9
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0dc226b3-a034-45b9-b977-ea227c956195 (old id 3504090)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:20:31
- date last changed
- 2022-04-21 21:08:33
@article{0dc226b3-a034-45b9-b977-ea227c956195,
abstract = {{Background: Dental caries is unevenly distributed within populations with a higher burden in low socio-economy groups. Several attempts have been made to allocate resources to those that need them the most; there is a need for convenient approaches to population-based monitoring of caries risk over time. The aim of this study was to develop the geo-map concept, addressing time trends in caries risk, and demonstrate the novel approach by analyzing epidemiological data from preschool residents in the region of Halland, Sweden. Methods: The study population consisted of 9,973 (2006) and 10,927 (2010) children between 3 to 6 years of age (similar to 77% of the eligible population) from whom caries data were obtained. Reported dmfs >0 for a child was considered as the primary caries outcome. Each study individual was geo-coded with respect to his/her residence parish (66 parishes in the region). Smoothed caries risk geo-maps, along with corresponding statistical certainty geo-maps, were produced by using the free software Rapid Inquiry Facility and the ESRI (R) ArcGIS system. Parish-level socioeconomic data were available. Results: The overall proportion of caries-free (dmfs = 0) children improved from 84.0% in 2006 to 88.6% in 2010. The ratio of maximum and minimum (parish-level) smoothed relative risks (SmRRs) increased from 1.76/0.44 = 4.0 in 2006 to 2.37/0.33 = 7.2 in 2010, which indicated an increased geographical polarization of early childhood caries in the population. Eight parishes showed evidential, positional changes in caries risk between 2006 and 2010; their corresponding SmRRs and statistical certainty ranks changed markedly. No considerable parallel changes in parish-level socioeconomic characteristics were seen during the same time period. Conclusion: Geo-maps based on caries risk can be used to monitor changes in caries risk over time. Thus, geo-mapping offers a convenient tool for evaluating the effectiveness of tailored health promotion and preventive care in child populations.}},
author = {{Strömberg, Ulf and Holmen, Anders and Magnusson, Kerstin and Twetman, Svante}},
issn = {{1472-6831}},
keywords = {{Caries; Children; Prevention; Geo-mapping; Time trend}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Oral Health}},
title = {{Geo-mapping of time trends in childhood caries risk - a method for assessment of preventive care}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3312310/3807222.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1186/1472-6831-12-9}},
volume = {{12}},
year = {{2012}},
}