2018 Volume 68 Issue 2 Pages 85-91
Health inequalities among children with caries resulting from the socioeconomic status, such as education, income, or geographic location, have been reported. However, the temporal trends in health inequalities has not been reported. This study aimed to clarify the temporal trend of the absolute and relative inequalities in 3-year-old children with caries within Ibaraki Prefecture’s municipalities. We conducted an ecological study of all 44 municipalities in Ibaraki. We used the data on caries prevalence in 3-year-old children and the mean municipality income per capita as indexes of the socioeconomic status for each municipality from 2005 to 2013. We used the Slope Index of Inequality (SII), which represents the absolute disparity, and the Relative Index of Inequality (RII), which represents the relative disparity, as indicators of health inequalities. The results showed that caries prevalence itself had declined in almost all municipalities in Ibaraki, but health inequalities within the prefecture still existed. The SII declined, while the RII had remained almost unchanged over the observation period. Local governments need to periodically monitor health inequalities as well as implement public health approaches to reduce such inequalities.
