Table 3.
Meta - Analysis according to the different subgroup characteristics
| Number of Studies | Random effect aOR 95% bCI | cI2 | P-Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Studies | 48 | |||
| Based on economic classification of the country of study | ||||
| High income countries | 25 | 2.57 (1.24- 3.90) | 0.00% | 0.000 |
| Upper middle income | 20 | 1.52 (1.26-1.78) | 0.00% | 0.000 |
| Lower middle income | 9 | 0.85 (0.52-1.18) | 0.00% | 0.900 |
| Type of dental insurance system | ||||
| Universal dental health insurance | 16 | 1.73 (1.19 - 2.26) | 0.00% | 0.000 |
| Mean tested public dental health insurance | 17 | 1.70 (1.40 - 2.00) | 0.00% | 0.000 |
| Mixed dental health insurance | 14 | 1.47 (1.09 - 1.85) | 0.00% | 0.000 |
| Predominantly private dental health insurance | 7 | 0.83 (0.50 - 1.16) | 0.00% | 0.720 |
| Based on type of outcome measure used to estimate dental service utilization | ||||
| Dental service use (12 months before) | 36 | 2.21 (1.18-3.23) | 0.00% | 0.000 |
| Dental service use (Lifetime) | 13 | 0.99 (0.56-1.42) | 0.00% | 0.620 |
| Preventive dental service use | 5 | 2.01 (1.19-2.84) | 48.64% | 0.000 |
aOR, Odd Ratio of the association between SES and dental service utilization of children and adolescents
bCI – Confidence Interval
cI2 Statistics
dThe total number of studies is more than 51 because of inclusion of more than one indicator per study