Abstract
BackgroundThe life expectancy of patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has increased, but its oral manifestations can affect the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of these patients. This study aimed to evaluate OHRQoL in HIV-infected patients and determine its related factors.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 250 HIV-infected patients were randomly selected from Shiraz Voluntary Counseling and Testing center in 2019. OHRQoL was measured using the revised Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index for HIV patients. The associations between patients’ OHRQoL and demographic characteristics were examined.ResultsThe mean score of the patients' OHRQoL was 24.55 ± 6.27. The lowest and highest scores belonged to the psychosocial and pain categories, respectively. In the univariate analysis, the OHRQoL was significantly associated with patients' age (p = 0.012), duration of the disease (p = 0.009), job (p = 0.006), edentulous status (p = 0.003), and wearing denture (p < 0.001). However, in the multiple linear regression analysis, a significant difference was found only between denture wearing and non-denture wearing patients (p ≤ 0.001).ConclusionsThe OHRQoL of HIV-infected patients was not optimal since most of the patients were worried about their oral and dental health problems. The OHRQoL was significantly better in denture-wearing patients. This finding highlights the impact of unmet dental needs on OHRQoL in HIV-infected patients. Therefore, dental services coverage for patients with HIV is essential, so that they can have timely access to oral health care. Furthermore, dentures should be considered as an unmet healthcare need among HIV patients in public health policies.
Highlights
The life expectancy of patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has increased, but its oral manifestations can affect the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of these patients
A patient who was registered in Shiraz Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) center had a code number that was recorded in Iran national software for control of HIV/AIDS
The OHRQoL in patients infected with HIV The mean scores determined for each question of OHRQoL varied from 2.40 ± 1.50 to 4.33 ± 1.06
Summary
The life expectancy of patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has increased, but its oral manifestations can affect the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of these patients. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) consists of those aspects of quality of life that are influenced by the presence of disease or treatment [1]. Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is defined as the impact of oral conditions on people’s everyday life [2]. Health problems can impair human wellbeing and negatively affect patients’ quality of life [4]. Infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is recognized as one of the most important public health problems in the world [4]. Because of the modern therapeutic measures, the life expectancy of the patients infected with HIV has increased. Many of the patients suffer from oral health problems and experience at least one oral
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