Masticatory ability with depression, anxiety, and stress: Does there exist any association?
BACKGROUND
Masticatory ability as a subjective response to masticatory function indicates patients' perception of their mastication. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no study on association between masticatory ability and psychological status. This study investigated the association between self-assessed masticatory ability (SAMA) and psychological status among a large sample of Iranian adults.


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, data were extracted from 4135 adults who had been completed information in 20 counties across Isfahan province regarding masticatory ability and psychological statuses (depression, anxiety, and stress). An SAMA questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and General Health Questionnaire were used to measure masticatory ability, depression and anxiety, and stress of study population. To analyze the data, ANOVA, χ(2) test, and multinomial regression were applied at 0.05 for the significance level.


RESULTS
Masticatory ability was significantly correlated with depression (P < 0.001), anxiety (P < 0.001), and stress (P < 0.001). The participants in high masticatory ability group reported lower scores for presence of these psychological variables. Furthermore, males reported significantly higher level for masticatory ability than females (P = 0.025). In addition, there were significant association between low and moderate masticatory ability with anxiety (1.09, 1.08), depression (1.15, 1.13), and stress (1.11, 1.09), respectively. The association was still significant after adjusting for age, sex, educational level, and marital status.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite study limitations, the results of this study provide evidence that participants with higher score of depression, anxiety, and stress suffer lower masticatory ability.
Cardiac Rehabilitation Research Center, Cardiovascular Research Institute, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Hamidreza
H
Roohafza
Psychosomatic Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Hamid
H
Afshar
Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Ammar Hassanzadeh
AH
Keshteli
Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Mohamad Javad
MJ
Shirani
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, School of Dentistry, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.
Parastu
P
Afghari
Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Amrita
A
Vali
Integrative Functional Gastroenterology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Peyman
P
Adibi
Anxiety; depression; masticatory; psychology; stress