Oral Health-Related Quality Of Life In Older Adults

This study aims to investigate the relationship between socio-demographics, general and oral frailty with oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among community-dwelling older adults. A cross-sectional study involving 115 older adults with mean age of 73 years old was conducted in a nursing home, Kuala Lumpur. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, Pictorial Fit-Frail Scale (PFFS), Oral Frailty Five Item Checklist (OF-5) and Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) were collected through individual interviews. Univariate analysis and Multiple Logistic Regression were performed to assess the association between sociodemographic factors, oral frailty variables and general frailty level with mean GOHAI scores. A p-value < 0.05 was set as statistically significant. A further multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that those with older age (p=0.014), low general frailty level (p=0.004), no difficulty eating tough food for past six months (p<0.001) were significantly associated with high mean GOHAI scores in physical domain. Meanwhile, lower educational level (p=0.018) and absence of frequent dry mouth (p=0.019) were significantly associated with high mean GOHAI scores in psychosocial domain. Lower general frailty level (p=0.013) and no difficulty eating tough food for past six months (p<0.001) were significantly associated with high overall mean GOHAI scores. Age, education level, general frailty level, and difficulty eating hard food over past six months had significantly impacted oral health-related quality of life in community-dwelling older adults.