Impact of dry mouth and hyposalivation on oral health-related quality of life of elderly Japanese.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the association of hyposalivation and the perception of dry mouth with oral health-related quality of life for independently living elderly.


METHODS
The study sample consisted of 287 participants (mean age, 66.1 years) at a Senior Citizen educational system. Stimulated salivary flow rates during chewing were measured. The OHIP-14 to measure the impact of oral conditions on health-related quality of life was used, and summary OHIP-14 scores combining the response codes for the 14 items were analyzed.


RESULTS
A logistic regression analysis showed that a higher OHIP-14 score indicating a poorer quality of life was related to fewer residual teeth, perception of dry mouth on eating (OR: 4.01, P = .012) and hyposalivation (OR: 2.71, P = .006).


CONCLUSIONS
It is suggested that both dry mouth and hyposalivation are important problems influencing the quality of life in independently living, relatively healthy elderly Japanese.
Ikebe
Kazunori
K
Division of Oromaxillofacial Regeneration Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, Suita, Osaka, Japan. ikebe@dent.osaka-u.ac.jp
Matsuda
Ken-ichi
K
Morii
Kentaro
K
Wada
Masahiro
M
Hazeyama
Tomohiro
T
Nokubi
Takashi
T
Ettinger
Ronald L
RL
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012472:Salivation; D012647:Self-Assessment; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012923:Social Class; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000523:psychology*