title: Oral health impacts on self-rated general and oral health in a cross-sectional study of working age adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims were to assess the joint effects of oral health and general health functional problems on self-ratings of general and oral health among adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from adults aged 30-61 years in Australia by mailed survey in 2009-2010. Self-rated health of 'very good/excellent' was analysed by oral health impact (OHIP-14) and number of health problems (EQ-5D) controlling for socio-demographics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses were collected from n = 1093 persons (response rate = 39.1%). General health self-ratings were higher in the high-income group (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.06, 1.00-1.12) but lower for those with a higher number of health problems (PR = 0.84, 0.76-0.93). The interaction of health problems with oral health impact indicated that self-rated general health was worst when both the number of health problems and OHIP score were higher. Oral health self-ratings were lower for males (PR = 0.92, 0.87-0.98), those aged 50-61 years (PR = 0.92, 0.85-0.99), for those with more health problems (PR = 0.82, 0.71-0.95) and higher oral health impact scores (PR = 0.54, 0.46-0.64).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For working age adults, oral health impact was associated with general health for those with more health problems indicating those in worse health suffer more impact from oral health problems.
authors: Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
authors: David S
authors: DS
authors: Brennan
authors: Dana N
authors: DN
authors: Teusner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: EQ-5D; OHIP; general health; oral health; self-rated health