Relationship between Quality of Life and Oral Health Status of Patients with Chronic Liver Disease

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the quality of life and work ability related to the oral health status of patients with chronic liver diseases. Material and Methods: The sample size contains all patients referred to the internal ward of Afzalipour and Bahonar hospitals due to chronic liver disease from 2019 to 2020. Patient selection was based on a simple census and a questionnaire that contained characteristics information of the patient, Work Ability Index questionnaire and SF-36 questionnaire were completed by the patients and some information was extracted from medical file. The SF-36 questionnaire assesses the quality of life in two general dimensions (physical health and mental health) with the physical function subscale. DMFT, Gingival index, and Periodontal disease index are used to evaluate the severity and extent of gingivitis and periodontitis. For data analysis, ANOVA, Spearman correlation coefficients were used and the significant level was p<0.05. Results: a total of 108 patients were examined. The mean age of participants was 41.2 ± 4.3 years. The DMFT index in patients was also reported as 22.6 ± 7.35. Also, 32.4% of people described their ability to do work as poor, 21.3% as good, and 7.4% as excellent. Patients with poor or moderate workability reported a higher index of DMFT. Among the participants, 61 and 21 patients had gingivitis and periodontitis, respectively. Mean results of total SF-36 indices were reported at a low level in patients with increased DMFT and gum diseases. Patients with poor or moderate workability had a higher index of DMFT. There was a significant relationship between these two variables (p=0.001). However, they were not significantly associated with periodontitis. Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between the SF-36 index, the ability to work and the type of liver disease.