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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to ascertain whether socio-economic conditions increase the risk of periodontal diseases. METHODS: A MEDLINE search was conducted for the period 1965-April 2004. Only original articles were included; 47 studies remained for the final assessment. The studies were analysed regarding the outcome of the association between socio-economic variables and periodontal disease, depending on the study design (cross-sectional survey or longitudinal case-control) and whether smoking was included or not. RESULTS: Twenty-nine out of 36 studies with a cross-sectional design were in favour of the association between socio-economic factors and periodontal diseases. In the studies with a longitudinal or case-control design, there were five in favour of the association, and also six against. When smoking was included in the analysis of cross-sectional studies, a significant association between socio-economic variables and periodontal disease was found in 11 studies and no significance in another five studies. The corresponding figures for case-control studies showed four studies being significant, but also four studies showing no significance. CONCLUSION: Based on relevant study designs and including smoking in the analysis, the socio-economic variables associated with periodontal diseases appear to be of less importance than smoking.
Klinge et al. (Fri,) studied this question.