A SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF INPATIENT ORAL-SURGERY - 1989-1994

This retrospective study was designed to assess the socioeconomic stat us of patients who underwent inpatient oral operations from 1989 to 19 94 in the area covered by the West Midlands Regional Health Authority and to compare the distribution with those people treated by other spe cialties, A total of 4926438 hospital inpatient finished consultant ep isodes within 56 specialties that were recorded on the Hospital Episod e Statistics database, of which 61 360 (1.25%) were dental (coded as o ral surgery, restorative dentistry, orthodontics, and paediatric denti stry). The main outcome measure was the socioeconomic status of patien ts as assessed by the Townsend score (a measure of material deprivatio n that covers car ownership, home ownership, overcrowding, and unemplo yment). There was a highly significant correlation between the use of all inpatient services and social deprivation (R-2 = 0.98, P < 0.001), This observation was consistent across all specialties except oral su rgery, in which the correlation was reversed (R-2 = 0.69, P < 0.001), indicating that patients who avail themselves of inpatient oral surger y are from a higher socioeconomic group. The application of a deprivat ion index to hospital episode data will enable purchasers and provider s to measure more accurately the impact of their services on groups wi thin the community.