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Subjective chewing ability and health‐related quality of life among the elderly
Author(s) -
Cho MinJeong,
Kim EunKyong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
gerodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1741-2358
pISSN - 0734-0664
DOI - 10.1111/ger.12385
Subject(s) - medicine , national health and nutrition examination survey , quality of life (healthcare) , residence , logistic regression , anxiety , oral health , activities of daily living , mastication , gerontology , depression (economics) , environmental health , dentistry , physical therapy , demography , psychiatry , population , nursing , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Objective Chewing ability may reflect the overall oral health, which affects the general health of the elderly. Therefore, we assessed the association between subjective chewing ability and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) among the elderly. Methods We analysed the data of 3034 elderly people aged ≥65 years from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that was conducted by the Korean government from 2013 to 2015 (KNHANES‐VI). Subjective chewing ability was evaluated using a questionnaire, and HRQOL was assessed using EuroQol 5‐dimension (EQ‐5D) instrument by trained examiners. Covariates, such as socio‐demographic, oral health‐related and general health‐related variables, were investigated. Results Logistic regression analysis showed that chewing ability was significantly associated with HRQOL in both crude and adjusted model for covariates such as age, gender, economic activity, residence, education, smoking, alcohol, hypertension, diabetes, remaining teeth, denture, CPI, tooth brushing and oral hygiene (crude OR, 2.67; 95% CI, 2.23‐3.20) (adjusted OR, 2.36; 95% CI, 1.95‐2.86). Chewing ability was also significantly associated with most dimensions of EQ‐5D, such as motor ability, self‐care, daily activities, pain and discomfort, and anxiety and depression ( P < 0.05). Conclusion Chewing ability was significantly associated with HRQOL, suggesting that elderly people with low chewing ability are more likely to have poor health‐related quality of life.