The anticaries effects of pit and fissure sealant in the first permanent molars of school-age children from Guangzhou: a population-based cohort study

Table 3 Mean DMFT in the FPMs and difference between sealant group and control group by sex and area

	Sealant group			Control group			Mean difference* (95%CI)	P value
	N	DMFT	DMFT Mean ± SD	N	DMFT	DMFT Mean ± SD	Mean difference* (95%CI)	P value
Sex
Male	2515	431	0.17 ± 0.51^#	2434	786	0.32 ± 0.71	−0.15(−0.19 to −0.12)	< 0.001
Female	2307	550	0.24 ± 0.61^#	1962	743	0.38 ± 0.75	−0.14(− 0.18 to − 0.10)	< 0.001
District area
Urban	4107	821	0.20 ± 0.56^#	3608	1194	0.33 ± 0.72	−0.13(− 0.16 to − 0.10)	< 0.001
Rural	715	160	0.22 ± .56^#	788	335	0.43 ± 0.76	−0.20(− 0.27 to − 0.13)	< 0.001
Total	4822	981	0.20 ± 0.56	4396	1529	0.35 ± 0.73	−0.14(− 0.17 to − 0.12)	< 0.001

FPMs = first permanent molars, CI = confidence interval. * using mixed linear regression analysis, adjusting for children sex and district area appropriately. ^# compare the difference of mean number DMFT in the FPMs between the sealant group and control group, p< 0.05

ISSN: 1472-6831