The impact of the war against russian military aggression on some indicators of the organization of dental care for the population in Ukraine

Abstract

In Ukraine, no comprehensive scientific works have been carried out to study the impact of the war on the state of dental health of the population and the state of the organization of dental care. Purpose: to study the impact of the war against Russian military aggression on some indicators of the organization of dental care in Ukraine. Materials and methods. Object: system of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine for the provision of dental care to the population. Materials: data of sectoral statistical reporting for the years 2020–2023. Statistical data from the territories controlled by Ukraine were analyzed. As the indicators for the analysis the network of health care institutions in which dental care is provided was chosen, as an indicator of ensuring its accessibility and an indicator of the population’s appeal for dental care as an indicator of health-preserving dental behavior of the population. Methods: medico-statistical, bibliosemantic, of structural-and-logical analysis. Statistical processing of primary materials was carried out with application of generally accepted methods of medical statistics. Results. In the course of the study, it was found that 53 independent dental clinics were closed during the study period. At the same time, on the territory of 4 (16.0%) administrative regions, the situation remained unchanged, on the territory of 1 (4.0%) region, this is Transcarpathian region, an independent polyclinic was opened. In the remaining 20 (80.0%) administrative territories, the number of independent dental clinics decreased. The largest number of dental independent polyclinics – 11, which amounted to 68.8%, was closed in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which belongs to the zone of active hostilities. In the health care system of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the number of health care institutions in the structure of which there exist units for the provision of dental care increased by 21 (2.1%). At the same time, on the territory of 2 (8.0%) administrative regions, it remained unchanged, on the territory of 8 (32.0%) administrative regions, their number decreased. On the territory of 15 (60.0%) administrative regions, an increase in the number of such institutions was registered. It should be noted that the highest rate of reduction of relevant health care institutions was registered in Lviv region – 28 (33.8%), Zaporizhzhia region – 15 (41.7%) and Kherson region – 14 (60.9%). In the course of the study, it was found that on the territory of 14 (56.0%) administrative regions, the function of the position of doctors increased, and on the territory of 11 (44.0%) administrative regions, the function of the position of doctors-stomatologists and dentists decreased. The highest levels of reduction in the function of the position of doctors were registered in the following administrative territories: Luhansk (48.6 times), Zaporizhzhia (1.9 times), Kherson (1.7 times) regions. These regions are associated with the zone of active hostilities. The highest levels of increase in the function of the position of doctors were registered in the following administrative territories: Zhytomyr, Poltava and Ternopil regions. In the course of the study, it was found that the marginal difference in the function of the position of doctors-stomatologists and dentists was: in 2020 by 3.54 times: from 879.0 in Kyiv to 3,107.7 in Luhansk region; in 2023 by 40.98 times: from 64.0 in Luhansk region to 2623.3 in the Poltava region. Conclusions. The results of our study confirm the results of other researchers and point to the negative impact of the war against Russian military aggression on some indicators of the organization of dental care for the population in Ukraine. The results indicate the need to further study the impact of the war against Russian military aggression on the state of dental health of various categories of the population and to study the level of attitude of different categories of the population to the preservation of personal dental health.