Abstract
Relations between regional differences in dental caries prevalence in 3-year-old Japanese children and some community characteristics possibly related to the dental health status were studied using multivariate analysis. A total of 31 community socio-economical, cultural, and health indices of each prefecture were employed to qualify the prefectural characteristics by means of factor and cluster analysis. Five common factors were closely related to prefectural differences and 47 prefectures were divided into three areas. One of these areas connected with high caries prevalence among 3-year-olds was the rural area, which was associated with specific indices such as gross agricultural products and ratio of persons employed in the primary industry. Our investigation clearly showed that high caries prevalence among 3-year-old Japanese children is coincident with ruralization (multiple regression coefficient R=0.849, p<0.01).
