Oral health related quality of life [OHRQoL] in 40 to 70 years

ABSTRACT

This study was aimed to assess the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life [OHRQoL] among aged 40-70 years. The survey was conducted in Prosthodontics department of a private Dental College in Lahore, Pakistan. A cross sectional survey was carried out over a period of three months [August-October 2010]. New male and female patients aged between 40 and 70 years, who came to the department of Prosthodontics for partial and complete denture problems were included in the sample. All other age groups and old [who were undergoing treatment in the department] patients were excluded. Data for this study was collected by carrying out an interview using the Oral Health Impact Profile 14 which is the shorter version of OHIP 49. Two hundred and ten patients completed the questionnaire forms containing the 14 item Oral Health Impact Profile [OHIP-14]. Data analysis was done using IBM SPSS version 19. The results showed the perceived OHRQoL among adults ranging from 40-70 years in age. Age was found to be highly significant [p < 0.01] with the OHRQoL dimension of 'psychological discomfort feeling tense' [p=0.002] and 'physical disability interrupted meals' [p=0.006] and significant [p < 0.05] with the dimensions of 'functional limitation: worsened taste' [p=0.04] Gender was found to be significant with 'psychological disability difficulty relaxing' [p=0.04] and highly significant with 'social disability irritability' [p=0.003], 'handicap life less satisfying' [p=0.002], 'physical disability poor diet' [p=0.01], 'handicap inability to function' [p=0.002] and 'handicap inability to function' [p=0.002]. Complete and partial denture appliances showed significance with the dimensions of 'functional limitation: worsened taste' [p=0.02] and portrayed high significance with 'physical pain aching in mouth' [p=0.01] and 'physical pain discomfort eating food' [p=0.001]