Mz. Morgan et Et. Treasure, Comparison of four composite deprivation indices and two census variables in predicting dental caries in 12-year-old children in Wales, COMM DENT H, 18(2), 2001, pp. 87-93
Objective To compare the explanatory power of four composite indices of soc
ial economic status in their ability to predict dental caries experience. B
asic research design A secondary analysis of Welsh BASCD survey data using
ward aggregated dental data, census variables and composite measures of dep
rivation. Clinical setting Examinations took place in schools. Participants
All 12-year-old children examined in the 1996/97 survey. Main outcome meas
ures The explanatory variables were Jarman index, Welsh Underprivileged Are
a score (WUPA). Carstairs and Townsend indices and the outcome measure was
mean DMFT. Results The amount of the mean DMFT explained by the explanatory
variables ranged from 62.9% with Welsh Underprivileged Area score (WUPA) i
n Bro Taf Health Authority to 4.2% with the Jarman index in Dyfed-Powys hea
lth authority. Of the constituent parts of the composite variables only the
percentage with no car appeared in the 'top three' variables in all but on
e of six models. Conclusions The composite indices explained very different
amounts of the variation in mean DMFT between the different health authori
ties. It would be unwise to rely on any one as a method of predicting which
sections of the population would be likely to have dental disease.