Multi-dimensional frailty and Oral Health-Related Quality-of-Life in older adults: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Frailty is an age-associated decline of physiological functions, with psychological, social and environmental dimensions. Frailty is associated with oral health and well-being. We aimed to determine the association between Oral Health-Related Quality-of-Life (OHRQoL) and multi-dimensional frailty in older Colombians. Methods: An observational study was conducted and included 1,079 older adults aged 60 to 105 years from Pasto, Colombia, recruited from different government programs targeting older adults. Socio-demographic characteristics were registered; OHRQoL was determined using the self-administered Colombian Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) version, and frailty using the Comprehensive Frailty Assessment Instrument (CFAI) and covariates identified with directed acyclic graph (DAG) analysis. A descriptive analysis and a generalized linear model (GLM) were performed. Results: The sample was comprised of 386 males (35.8%) and 693 (64.2%) females. The mean age was 71.85 years (standard deviation, SD=8.55). The mean GOHAI was 49.60 (SD=8.91). GLM found that overall frailty dimensions of the CFAI negatively impacted OHRQoL with psychological dimension having the largest impact (β= -0.44, 95% CI:-0.54– -0.34, P<0.001). Conclusion: Comprehensive frailty assessment allows us to map various dimensions of frailty and the impact they have on OHRQoL.