General health, wellbeing and oral health of patients older than 75 years attending health assessments

Abstract

Annual health assessments by general practices for community-dwelling people aged 75 years and over are important for the early intervention and monitoring of chronic health conditions, including oral disease. Uptake of the health assessment to date has been poor, and little is known of the general and oral health profile of patients. Older patients attending health assessments at general practices in South Australia were sampled for this study. Data on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and patients' general and oral health, were collected by mailed questionnaire from 459 respondents. By comparison with national estimates, patients attending health assessments fared worse in many of the measures, such as self-rated general health, quality of life and the prevalence of most chronic conditions, as well as their socioeconomic circumstances. Also identified were a high degree of nutritional risk and clear need for oral health treatment, with poor self-rated oral health being three-fold higher than the national age-eligible population. Patients attending health assessments would likely benefit from nutritional screening (by a validated tool) and specific assessment of their oral health and dentition, supported by appropriate referral or intervention.

Are Edentulousness, Oral Health Problems and Poor Health-Related Quality of Life Associated with Malnutrition in Community-Dwelling Elderly (Aged 75 Years and Over)? A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Multimorbidity, polypharmacy, advanced age and frailty are associated with an increasing risk of becoming malnourished [7,8,9,10,11]. Among community-dwelling elderly aged ≥75 years, the prevalence of malnutrition is 2.6% and increases rapidly when elderly become institutionalized or hospitalized (13.8% and 38.7%, respectively) [7,8,9].…”

Predictors for oral and general health outcomes and quality of life among older people attending general practice (GP) clinics in South Australia

“…5 Integration of oral health care into existing support systems available for older people such as Home Care Packages 60 as well as services that older people more commonly use (such as visiting GP clinics) provide a means for improving early intervention and primary care. 61 Provision of appropriate information as well as referral pathways to a trained dental professional are necessary aspects in such multidisciplinary involvement. 32,59 The growing relevance of the older age group for health systems in Australia calls for improved collaboration and teamwork that spans medical, dental and allied health personnel.…”

“…The overall design of the study involved a follow-up of non-institutionalised[*] older people (75+ years) attending publicly funded annual health assessments in GP medical clinics in South Australia. More detailed information on the study design and methods are published elsewhere 30,[34][35][36] . The methods presented in this paper are limited to the analysis of risk factors.…”

“…The study sample was relatively younger and included more males when compared to national estimates. 30 It is suggested that readers observe caution in generalising ndings, as the study sample is less likely to be fully representative of all older people aged 75+ years, especially those living in rural areas or based in other settings such as residential care facilities or hospitals. The use of dichotomised predictors re ected the aim of identifying potential risk predictors and comparing the patterns of their associations across different measures of oral and general health.…”

“…2,8 To date, there is an increasing emphasis for innovative primary care pathways for improving oral health for older people and the use of multiple points of care for prevention, screening and referral that are easily accessible by older people. 29,30 The growing importance of the older age group and need for innovative solutions that focus on prevention and primary care have led the World Health Organization to produce a 'Call for Public Health Action' on the oral health of older people. 31 The approach calls for a better understanding of common risk factors for oral and general health, and encourages the use of integrated care solutions to tackle the gap in service provision for older people.…”