Relationship Between Oral Health, Quality of Life, and Comprehensive Health Literacy in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract

Background and purpose:Oral health affects systemic health and the importance of maintaining good oral health is acknowledged. The high prevalence of oral diseases is associated with low health literacy (HL). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether comprehensive HL in community-dwelling older adults is associated with objective oral hygiene and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).Methods:Participants aged ≥65 years completed a self-administered questionnaire. On the same day, data collected with the oral health assessment tool were used to assess participants’ objective oral status. The questionnaire included the general oral health assessment index to measure OHRQoL and the short version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire to assess comprehensive HL. Data were analyzed by univariate and multiple logistic regression.Results:In total, 145 people consented to participate in this study, of whom 118 (81.4%) responded effectively. Of the 118 participants, 18% recorded a rating of “unhealthy” for oral cleanliness in objective oral hygiene. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified comprehensive HL as a related factor for both oral cleanliness and OHRQoL (odds ratio = 5.00 and 3.33,p< 0.01 andp< 0.05, respectively).Implications for Practice:These findings indicate that comprehensive HL changes clinical outcomes. Because older adults often have comorbidities as well as oral health problems, it is important for nurses to assess HL during follow-up for comorbidities and take the opportunity to provide personalized oral health guidance and improve OHRQoL.

Assessing oral health-related quality of life among older people in home-based care - survey results of the InSEMaP study in Germany

“…Part of the reason for this is the overlap between inquiries regarding subjective dental health status and those concerning OHRQoL. Additionally, in consistence with previous research, a good overall HRQoL was linked to improved OHRQoL [ 45 , 46 ]. In our sample, particularly 12.0% reported four or more oral health-related impairments fairly often or very often in the four weeks preceding their response to the OHIP-G14 measurement.…”