Oral health‐related quality of life of older people from three South American cities

Abstract

Objective: To describe subjective oral health status and its association with overall health conditions and socioeconomic factors in the elderly (60 years and older) living in the capital cities with the oldest average populations in South America. Background: Oral diseases are a public health problem, frequently neglected in older adults. In recent years, the subjective assessment of psychological and social consequences of the problems related to oral health has been valued. One of the instruments used to estimate the Oral Health‐Quality of Life is the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment (GOHAI). Material and methods: Representative samples from SABE study (1999–2000) of Santiago (n = 1301), Buenos Aires (n = 1043), and Montevideo (n = 1450) aged 60 and over community‐dwelling people. We assessed OH‐QoL (GOHAI), self‐reported missing teeth, denture use, and self‐rated‐health, among other indicators. Logistic regression models(GOHAI < 58) for each city, adjusted by sex and age, were applied. Results: GOHAI average scores were higher in Montevideo (54.8 ± 6.1) than in Buenos Aires (53.1 ± 7.4) and Santiago (49.9 ± 8.6). A pronounced gradient of the oral condition and GOHAI scores were observed within the three‐cities. Denture use ‐less prevalent in Santiago and more common among women‐ is a protective factor against a poor OH‐QoL. Conclusion: Socioeconomic inequalities in oral health status and OH‐QoL are observed in the three cities. The increasing life expectancy emphasizes the need to integrate prevention and treatment efforts, as a way to improve OH‐QoL over the course of a lifetime.

The oral health related quality of life in different groups of senior citizens as measured by the OHIP-14 questionnaire

“…Previous studies in other senior adult populations found that the majority of subjects report a significant impact of oral health on their daily quality of life, both in a negative and in a positive manner [3,[22][23][24]. The present findings for Greek seniors revealed a medium impact of oral health with a weighted OHIP-14 score of 2.1, higher than the findings for the adolescents (1.2) [20] and young adults (1.1) [21], confirming the previous reports of a relatively low effect for the Greek population as a whole.…”

Oral Health Perception in Institutionalized Elderly in Brazil: Psychosocial, Physical and Pain Aspects

“…These terms have been replaced by the 'Oral Health-Related Quality of Life' (OHQoL), which emphasizes the impact of oral diseases and disorders on an individual's functioning and psychosocial well-being [20].…”

“…Measures of oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) are essential for epidemiological and clinical studies to provide accurate data for health promotion, disease prevention programs and allocation of health resources [20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…One of the most used instrument to estimate the OHQoL in elderly, is the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) [17,25], which was developed by Atchinson and Dolan in 1990 [1,4,14,20,21,24,26,27] to assess three dimensions of oral health as follows: physical functioning, social functioning and pain and discomfort [9,20,25,28].…”

Oral Health Related Quality of Life in a Group of Geriatrics

“…Oral morbidities are prevalent and frequently neglected in elderly patients [8]. In Chile, 100% of adults between the ages of 65 to 74 have had a decayed tooth and majority of patients are at least partially edentulous.…”