Oral health-related quality of life and its associated factors in elderly population

Abstract

Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate oral health-related quality of life and its associated factors in the elderly. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done at the medical Out Patient Department of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar by using a non-probability consecutive sampling method of 411 elderly patients. All the patients had an oral examination, followed by an interview through a validated questionnaire having demographics and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) was measured using OHIP-14 having Likert scale, with higher scores indicating poor oral health (lower OHRQoL) and vice versa. Results: The mean OHIP-14 score (range 0-56) was 62.35± 10.94 which is much higher than the threshold for poor OHRQoL ‘poor OH’ ≥11.0 (SD ± 6.9). OHRQoL was found good in the participants having good oral Hygiene (51.74) and who were more qualified. Females had relatively good OHRQoL (61.4). The mean OHIP score was higher in the participants belonging to rural areas (67.1) as compared to urban areas. Conclusion: This study found poor OHRQoL in the elderly population in Peshawar. Participants who had good oral hygiene & who were qualified had good OHRQoL. OHRQoL was found poor in rural areas participants; it was relatively good in females as compared to males.