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Ju, Oh, and Lee: Impact of oral health literacy on oral health-related quality of life among adults
Original Article

J Korean Acad Oral Health 2014;38(4):220-226.

Published online: 12 December 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11149/jkaoh.2014.38.4.220

Impact of oral health literacy on oral health-related quality of life among adults

Hyun-Jeong Ju1, Hyo-Won Oh1, 2, Heung-Soo Lee1, 2

1Department of Preventive and Public Health Dentistry, College of Dentistry, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Korea

2Institute of Wonkwang Dental Research, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Korea

Corresponding Author: Heung-Soo Lee Department of Preventive and Public Health Dentisty, Wonkwang University College of Dentistry, 460 Iksan-daero, Iksan 570-749, Korea Tel: +82-63-850-6851 Fax: +82-63-850-6851 E-mail: smagn@wonkwang.ac.kr

Received 12 September 2014       Revised 24 October 2014       Accepted 7 November 2014

Copyright © 2014 Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of oral health literacy on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).

Methods

Self-administered questionnaires were handed out to 760 adults above the age of 18 selected through convenience sampling. Among them, those above 60 years of age were also interviewed face-to-face. The Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (REALD-99) and the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Dentistry (TOFHLiD) were used to measure verbal and functional oral health literacy respectively. OHRQoL was measured using the oral health impact profile-14 (OHIP-14), a simplified version of the oral health impact profile (OHIP). The sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, marital status, education level, and income) were also recorded. Higher scores on oral health literacy represented higher levels of literacy, while higher OHIP-14 scores implied that the OHRQoL was lower.

Results

During analyses, the sample was stratified into the top and bottom 25% based on functional oral health literacy levels. OHRQoL had a statistically significant negative correlation with functional oral health literacy. The items on functional limitation, physical disability, social disability, and handicap specifically showed negative correlations. Multiple regression analysis was performed after including sociodemograhic variables also. Only functional and not verbal oral health literacy had a statistically significant influence on OHRQoL. The higher the functional oral health literacy level, the higher was the OHRQoL.

Conclusions

Enhancement of functional oral health literacy level through oral health education is necessary to improve the OHRQoL.

Keywords: Adult, Literacy, Oral health, Quality of life

References

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Table 1.
Distribution of oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14) scores
OHIP-14 scores N (%)
<20 280 (36.8)
20-29 301 (39.6)
30-39 115 (15.1)
40-49 45 (5.9)
50-59 14 (1.8)
≥60 5 (0.7)
Table 2.
Mean scores for oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14) by socioeconomic characteristics
Variables Classification OHIP-14† F or t P-value*
N Mean (±SD)
Gender Male 372 24.78 (±9.18) 0.76 0.448
Female 388 24.25 (±9.95)
Marital status Married 483 24.39 (±9.58) ―0.414 0.677
Single 270 24.69 (±9.38)
Education level ≤High school 319 25.46 (±10.27) 2.350 0.019*
≥College 431 23.77 (±8.94)
Age (yr) ≤29 223 24.20 (±9.56) 1.487 0.204
30-39 176 24.26 (±8.33)
40-49 177 23.72 (±9.09)
50-59 120 25.49 (±10.42)
≥60 64 26.63 (±12.02)
Family income (10,000 KRW) ≤199 114 25.40 (±9.90) 0.574 0.681
200-299 174 24.61 (±9.42)
300-399 309 24.64 (±9.55)
400-499 205 23.84 (±9.32)
≥500 50 25.26 (±10.99)

*P<0.05,

† range: 14 (minimum, high quality)-70 (maximum, low quality).

Table 3.
Oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14) according to oral health literacy level
Oral health literacy OHIP-14 t-value P-value*
N M±SD
Verbal Upper 25% 192 24.17 (±9.42) ―1.278 0.202
Lower 25% 203 25.44 (±10.31)
Functional Upper 25% 311 23.59 (±8.27) ―3.081 0.002*
Lower 25% 275 26.00 (±10.39)

*There were statistically significant differences by t-test (P<0.05).

Table 4.
Correlations between oral health literacy and oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14)
Oral health literacy Oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14)
Total Functional limitation Pain Psychological discomport Physical disability Psychological disability Social disability Handi-cap
Verbal ―.042 ―.047 ―035 ―.024 ―.049 ―.011 ―.027 ―.015
Functional ―110** ―.169** ―.033 ―.062 ―.104** ―.061 ―.114** ―.090*

*P<0.05, **P<0.01 (Pearson correlation coefficient).

Table 5.
Multiple regression analysis results of the variables associated with oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14)
Oral health related quality of life (OHIP-14)
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
B B B
Gender (male) 0.983 0.052 0.933 0.049 1.015 0.053
Marital status (married) ―1.918 ―0.097 ―1.913 ―0.096 ―2.01 ―0.101
Education level ―0.442 ―0.032 ―0.352 ―0.026 ―0.253 ―0.019
Age 0.871 0.117* 0.86 0.116* 0.693 0.093
Family income 0.04 0.005 0.06 0.007 0.142 0.017
Verbal ―0.027 ―0.026 ―0.007 ―0.007
Functional ―0.43 ―0.103*
R2 0.011 0.012 0.021
Adjusted R2 0.005 0.004 0.011

*P<0.05.

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