Skip to main content

Table 2 Characteristics of adults aged 18 years and over who utilised oral healthcare (N = 1596)

From: Demographic and socioeconomic inequalities in oral healthcare utilisation in Malaysia: evidence from a national survey

Characteristics

Count, n (Unweighted)

Estimated population, N (Weighted)

Prevalence, %

(95% CI)

p value

Malaysia

1596

2,848,576

13.2 (12.0–14.5)

–

Predisposing factors

Demographic profile

Sex

 Male

574

1,136,872

10.5 (8.9–12.4)

 < 0.001

 Female

1022

1,711,703

15.8 (14.3–17.4)

Age group (years)

 18–34

595

1,377,064

14.3 (12.3–16.5)

 < 0.001

 35–44

376

571,705

13.7 (11.7–15.9)

 45–59

420

637,588

13.8 (12.0–15.8)

 60 + 

205

262,219

8.2 (6.7–10.0)

Ethnicity

 Malay*

1101

1,592,232

14.3 (13.0–15.7)

0.093

 Chinese

172

586,266

12.7 (9.8–16.2)

 Indian

109

203,961

15.4 (11.5–20.3)

 Other Bumiputera

170

313,197

13.8 (10.9–17.4)

 Others

44

152,921

6.6 (2.8–14.7)

Citizenship

 Malaysian

1545

2,661,177

13.9 (12.7–15.1)

0.080

 Non-Malaysian

51

187,399

7.5 (3.6–15.0)

Marital status

 Single

346

815,440

13.0 (11.0–15.3)

0.001

 Married

1138

1,906,892

14.0 (12.5–15.6)

 Widow(er)/Divorcee

112

126,244

7.3 (5.8–9.2)

Socioeconomic status

Education level

 No formal education

50

89,293

7.5 (5.0–11.1)

 < 0.001

 Primary education

193

282,622

6.5 (5.2–8.3)

 Secondary education

732

1,316,176

12.5 (10.9–14.2)

 Tertiary education

621

1,160,485

20.8 (18.2–23.6)

Occupation

 Government employee

280

326,851

21.6 (18.2–25.5)

 < 0.001

 Private employee

453

1,046,103

12.8 (10.7–15.3)

 Self-employed

226

395,824

10.3 (8.4–12.5)

 Unpaid worker/Housewife

318

528,136

14.3 (12.3–16.5)

 Retiree

80

94,921

12.9 (9.2–17.8)

 Student

79

181,488

21.0 (14.7–29.1)

 Not economically active†

160

275,252

9.7 (7.7–12.3)

Working status

 Not working

647

1,091,949

13.3 (11.8–15.0)

0.826

 Working

949

1,756,627

13.1 (11.6–14.7)

Health belief

Medical check-up

 Yes

812

1,268,343

17.7 (15.9–19.6)

 < 0.001

 No

784

1,580,233

10.9 (9.5–12.5)

Enabling factors

Household income quintile

 Q1 (20% poorest)

246

467,068

10.4 (8.6–12.4)

 < 0.001

 Q2

261

464,069

10.8 (8.3–14.1)

 Q3

280

464,103

10.5 (8.8–12.6)

 Q4

343

597,262

14.1 (12.1–16.4)

 Q5 (20% richest)

466

856,073

20.3 (17.4–23.6)

Urbanity

 Urban

1074

2,221,183

13.6 (12.1–15.2)

0.159

 Rural

522

627,393

11.8 (10.0–13.9)

Need factor

Self-rated health status

 Good to excellent health

1190

2,234,735

13.1 (11.7–14.6)

0.730

 Fair health

377

561,916

13.8 (11.8–15.9)

 Poor to very poor health

29

51,925

11.6 (7.0–18.6)

  1. CI confidence interval, Q quintile
  2. *Includes Orang Asli
  3. †Unemployed, health problem, old age