Influence of sociodemographic factors upon pain intensity in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders seen in the primary care setting

Abstract

Objective: A study is made of the influence of gender, educational level, marital status, income, social support, and perceived general and oral health upon pain intensity in a sample of patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJD) explored in primary care (AP). Design: A review was made of 899 patients from Córdoba Healthcare District (Spain) referred to the primary care TMJD Unit by their primary care physician and/or dentist. Of these subjects, 151 failed to meet the inclusion criteria. The remaining 748 subjects were explored according to the corresponding research diagnostic criteria (RDC/TMJD). A bivariate analysis was made the association of pain intensity to the demographic and psychological characteristics of the patients, and to perceived general and oral health, followed by a multivariate linear regression analysis to explain pain intensity as a function of the rest of the variables. The SPSS version 19.0 statistical package was used. Results: The patient age ranged from 18-86 years, with a mean of 45.8 years (± 15.8), and a female predominance of 5:1. The characteristic pain intensity (CPI) score was almost 15 points higher on average in women than in men (p<0.05). A lower educational level, and separation or divorce, were correlated to an increased intensity of pain. Social support, depression and general and oral health also explained part of pain intensity. The regression model established with these variables accounted for 13.3% of the variability of pain (R2 = 0.133). Conclusions: Women suffer more intense pain than men. Perceived health partially explains the variability of the CPI score. However, it is empirically seen that the variables gender, educational level and marital status exert an important and independent influence upon pain intensity. Key words:Cranial-mandibular disorders, age, gender, educational level, primary care, research diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular joint disorders (RDC/TMD).

The Relationship Between Sociodemographic Characteristics and Clinical Features in Burning Mouth Syndrome

“…Hungria et al, in relation to temporomandibolar disorders (TMD) found that patients with a lower educational level suffer more from pain than people with a higher educational level. However, in our patients pain was not related to educational level (P = 0.288) [41].…”

Temporomandibular disorders in elderly individuals: the influence of institutionalization and sociodemographic factors

“…Some studies have shown that prevalence of TMD in elderly populations is rare (15)(16)(17) . However, other authors reported that the elderly can often suffer from TMD, but do not complain because they are more concerned with other overall health issues or more painful and debilitating diseases, leaving aside the symptoms related to the masticatory system (18) .…”

“…This condition is often diagnosed by observation of symptoms that are very subjective. Identification of these symptoms depends on cognitive ability, which varies widely both individually and among groups (15)(16)(17)(18) . According to Schmitter et al (18) , the elderly population presents a higher prevalence of objective signs of TMD; however, they rarely complain of pain.…”

Effectiveness of Mesotherapy on Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

“…Consequently pain related complains (neck, head, TMJ) will be one of the most important and prevalent problem in persons with TMJD. In this aspect woman seems to have higher and more severe pain prevalence [6,[8][9][10]. Psychological abnormalities have been also associated with elevated pain grade [8,9,11].…”

“…In this aspect woman seems to have higher and more severe pain prevalence [6,[8][9][10]. Psychological abnormalities have been also associated with elevated pain grade [8,9,11]. In this context, though most of TMJ patients will remain asymptomatic or have symptoms during a short time [1,12] pain relief will be one of the main goals of TMJD treatment.…”