{"title":"The Uneven Playing Field: Provider Participation and Regional Disparities in Oral Health Examination Rates in South Korea.","authors":"Hye-Lim Hong, Nam-Hee Kim","doi":"10.4178/epih.e2025012","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study investigated regional disparities in adult oral health examination rates in South Korea, despite free oral health screenings by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). It focused on the impact of provider factors, such as the availability of dental clinics and non-dental institutions.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional analysis of 2022 data from 229 districts was conducted. The dependent variable was the adult oral health examination rate, while independent variables included provider factors, community health status, lifestyle, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analyses identified significant predictors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Non-metropolitan areas had higher oral health examination rates (27.4%) than metropolitan areas (25.3%). Correlation analysis showed the general health examination rate (r=0.583) and the number of screening institutions (r=0.234) were the strongest predictors (p<0.001). Regression analysis showed a 1% increase in general health examination rates led to a 1.44% rise in oral health examination rates (p<0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite NHIS policies, significant regional disparities persist, showing that providing screenings alone is insufficient. Integrating oral health screenings with general health examinations is necessary. Policymakers must promote collaboration between dental and non-dental providers to ensure equitable, integrated health services, enhancing preventive care and reducing disparities.</p>","PeriodicalId":48543,"journal":{"name":"Epidemiology and Health","volume":" ","pages":"e2025012"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Epidemiology and Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2025012","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: This study investigated regional disparities in adult oral health examination rates in South Korea, despite free oral health screenings by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). It focused on the impact of provider factors, such as the availability of dental clinics and non-dental institutions.
Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of 2022 data from 229 districts was conducted. The dependent variable was the adult oral health examination rate, while independent variables included provider factors, community health status, lifestyle, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analyses identified significant predictors.
Results: Non-metropolitan areas had higher oral health examination rates (27.4%) than metropolitan areas (25.3%). Correlation analysis showed the general health examination rate (r=0.583) and the number of screening institutions (r=0.234) were the strongest predictors (p<0.001). Regression analysis showed a 1% increase in general health examination rates led to a 1.44% rise in oral health examination rates (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Despite NHIS policies, significant regional disparities persist, showing that providing screenings alone is insufficient. Integrating oral health screenings with general health examinations is necessary. Policymakers must promote collaboration between dental and non-dental providers to ensure equitable, integrated health services, enhancing preventive care and reducing disparities.
期刊介绍:
Epidemiology and Health (epiH) is an electronic journal publishing papers in all areas of epidemiology and public health. It is indexed on PubMed Central and the scope is wide-ranging: including descriptive, analytical and molecular epidemiology; primary preventive measures; screening approaches and secondary prevention; clinical epidemiology; and all aspects of communicable and non-communicable diseases prevention. The epiH publishes original research, and also welcomes review articles and meta-analyses, cohort profiles and data profiles, epidemic and case investigations, descriptions and applications of new methods, and discussions of research theory or public health policy. We give special consideration to papers from developing countries.