Risk factors of oral health related quality of life: An evidence from Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundOral disease and tooth loss have a significant negative impact on the quality of life and well‐being of older adults. As OHRQoL is a major feature of the daily experiences of older adults, alongside decreased general health and functioning, and shrinking social networks and activities, it is particularly important to examine whether a relationship between OHRQoL and amongst socioeconomic and psychological factors exists. Socioeconomic disparities in oral health have been consistently demonstrated for various indicators, mostly clinical and disease related but also subjective measures of oral health and quality of life. The key risk factors include poor general health, depression, anxiety, loneliness and low social participation and social support.MethodWe utilized secondary data from the seventh wave of Australian longitudinal study of Ageing (ALSA). ALSA was coordinated by the research teams of Flinders University, Australia. The data analysis included a sample of 257 (98‐male, 159‐female) participants from rural Australia. Chi‐square and Wilcoxon’s tests were applied on categorical variables to under the association between outcome and predictors. We created depression scale based on 20 indicators of depression among older people. The multinomial logistic regression model was used to study the strengths of relationships between oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) and its possible risk factors.ResultThe study found a clear and significant association between OHRQoL and depression, loneliness, anxiety including socio‐economic factors such as age, sex, income and family structure. The older people who faced a little or no difficulty in performing the activities such as eating food, speaking clearly, smiling, laughing and showing teeth without embarrassment are more likely to live better life. Females are less likely to have good oral health related quality of life than men.ConclusionThis findings of this study would lead future work and will be beneficial to understand healthy ageing through oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) and its risk factors as well as providing policy and practice recommendations improve overall quality of life in old age, and achieve targets laid out in Sustainable Development Goals for Health (SDG‐3).