A Study on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life and Its Influencing Factors in Elderly Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the oral health related quality of life in elderly diabetic patients and analyze its influencing factors. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to select 190 elderly patients with diabetes under the Department of Endocrinology and Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University as the research subjects. The Chinese version of the Oral Health Influence Scale (OHIP-14) was used to conduct a questionnaire survey, and univariate analysis and multiple stepwise regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of oral health related quality of life in elderly diabetic patients. Results: The elderly diabetic patients’ oral health related quality of life score was 34.48 ± 3.23, which is in the middle-lower range. The findings of multivariate stepwise regression analysis revealed that the course of disease, regular visits to the dentist, sleep quality, oral health knowledge, and oral health attitude together explained 58.9% of the total variance in elderly diabetic patients in terms of their oral health related quality of life (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The oral health related quality of life of elderly diabetic patients is generally low, and is affected by the duration of diabetes, sleep quality, and oral health knowledge, attitude, and behavior (regular visits to the dentist). Improving patients’ attention to oral health problems by improving sleep as well as their own oral health knowledge, attitude, and behavior is an effective way to enhance oral health related quality of life.