ISSN:
1741-2358
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between number of remaining teeth and health-related quality of life in community-dwelling elderly.Subjects: A total of 207 participants who were community-dwelling, 85 years of age. Data were from a population-based study of age-related general and oral health in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.Measurements: The Japanese version of the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36).Results: The mental component score for the participants, from the SF-36, was higher than the Japanese national norm for those aged ≥70 years. There were no significant differences in the mean of any scores on the SF-36 by having spouse, living with family, or education level. The mean of the SF-36 scores of physical functioning (PF) and of the physical component scores were significantly higher in the 85-year-old participants with ≥20 teeth than in those with ≤19 teeth (p 〈 0.05 and p 〈 0.01 respectively). In addition, a significant difference (p 〈 0.05) was observed between the mean of participants with ≥20 teeth and those with ≤19 teeth after adjustment for region where the participant lived, activities of daily living (ADL), and sex. The PF (p 〈 0.001), role-physical (p 〈 0.005), bodily pain (p 〈 0.001), vitality (p 〈 0.001), social functioning (p 〈 0.05), and physical component (p 〈 0.001) scores were significantly higher in participants with a good activities of daily living (ADL) assessment. However, ADL was not associated with the number of teeth.Conclusions: The findings of the present study indicated that 85-year-old participants with ≥20 teeth had better subjective physical health than those with ≤19 teeth.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-2358.2005.00059.x
