IADR Abstract Archives
Toothbrushing in 104 Countries: Sex, Country-Income and Regional Inequalities
Objectives: This study assessed the prevalence of more-than-once-daily toothbrushing in 11-15 years old children from 104 countries and inequalities by child sex, region and country income level.
Methods: We used toothbrushing data of nationally representative samples of 11–15-year-old children from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children Survey and the Global School-based Student Health Survey. For each country, we used the latest data in the period from 2009 to 2017. Toothbrushing was categorized into more-than-once-daily and ≤ once daily (never, less than once daily and once a day). Countries were classified into the World Health Organization six regions: African region (AFR), region of the Americas (AMR), Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR), European region (EUR), South-East Asia region (SEAR) and Western Pacific region (WPR). Countries were also classified based on the World Bank income levels into low income (LIC), lower middle income (LMIC), upper middle income (UMIC) and high income (HIC). We calculated the prevalence of toothbrushing more-than-once-daily and the Gini coefficient of inequality and compared the statistics among categories.
Results: Toothbrushing data were available for 18.5 million children (9.3 million males and 9.2 million females) in 104 countries. In total, 64.1% brushed their teeth more-than-once-daily with greater prevalence and lower Gini coefficient in females (70.2% and 0.10) than males (58.2% and 0.15). The highest percentage and lowest Gini coefficient were in the AMR countries (85.4% and 0.05) and the lowest percentage with highest Gini coefficient was in the EMR countries (37.0% and 0.13). There was an increasing gradient of more-than-once-daily toothbrushing prevalence and decreasing Gini coefficient as country income increased: from 53.3% and 0.20 in LICs to 70.2% and 0.12 in HICs.
Conclusions: Two of three 11–15-year-old children brushed their teeth more-than-once-daily. There were inequalities by sex, country income level and region in toothbrushing.
Methods: We used toothbrushing data of nationally representative samples of 11–15-year-old children from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children Survey and the Global School-based Student Health Survey. For each country, we used the latest data in the period from 2009 to 2017. Toothbrushing was categorized into more-than-once-daily and ≤ once daily (never, less than once daily and once a day). Countries were classified into the World Health Organization six regions: African region (AFR), region of the Americas (AMR), Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR), European region (EUR), South-East Asia region (SEAR) and Western Pacific region (WPR). Countries were also classified based on the World Bank income levels into low income (LIC), lower middle income (LMIC), upper middle income (UMIC) and high income (HIC). We calculated the prevalence of toothbrushing more-than-once-daily and the Gini coefficient of inequality and compared the statistics among categories.
Results: Toothbrushing data were available for 18.5 million children (9.3 million males and 9.2 million females) in 104 countries. In total, 64.1% brushed their teeth more-than-once-daily with greater prevalence and lower Gini coefficient in females (70.2% and 0.10) than males (58.2% and 0.15). The highest percentage and lowest Gini coefficient were in the AMR countries (85.4% and 0.05) and the lowest percentage with highest Gini coefficient was in the EMR countries (37.0% and 0.13). There was an increasing gradient of more-than-once-daily toothbrushing prevalence and decreasing Gini coefficient as country income increased: from 53.3% and 0.20 in LICs to 70.2% and 0.12 in HICs.
Conclusions: Two of three 11–15-year-old children brushed their teeth more-than-once-daily. There were inequalities by sex, country income level and region in toothbrushing.