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Kim, Kim, Lee, Hong, and Chang: Factors influencing oral discomfort in elderly people
Original Article

J Korean Acad Oral Health 2016;40(1):49-54.

Published online: 12 March 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11149/jkaoh.2016.40.1.49

Factors influencing oral discomfort in elderly people

Ju-Yeon Kim, Young-Sam Kim, Hae-Jin Lee, Jin-Sil Hong, Kee-Wan Chang

Department of Preventive & Community Dentistry, Institute of Oral-bio Science, Chonbuk National University Dental School, Jeonju, Korea

Corresponding Author: Kee-Wan Chang Department of Preventive & Community Dentistry, Institute of Oral-bio Science, Chonbuk National University Dental School, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju 54896, Korea Tel: +82-63-270-4034 Fax: +82-63-270-4035 E-mail: prevdent@chonbuk.ac.kr

Received 26 January 2016       Revised 9 March 2016       Accepted 11 March 2016

Copyright © 2016 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/4.0/), 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 investigate oral discomfort factors in the elderly and to analyze the sociodemographic and health-related characteristics influencing their oral discomfort using multiple regression analysis.

Methods

Facilities were selected based on the 2014 Elderly Welfare Facilities Status. Data was collected through the interview of 176 participants aged ≥65 years. The oral discomfort factors (10 items) were investigated using a 5-point Likert scale. The total oral discomfort scores were added for each of the 10 items investigated using the 5-point Likert scale. SPSS 12.0 program was used to analyze the descriptive statistics and perform a t-test and a stepwise multiple regression analysis.

Results

The oral discomfort factor with the highest score was g oral discomfort factorThe total oral discomfort score for women was significantly higher than that for men. ‘men. gnificantly higher thangen-derg were, respectively, the health-related and sociodemographic characteristics that most significantly influenced the total oral discomfort scores. Perceived oral health accounted for 30.4% of the total oral discomfort score, while gender accounted for 2%.

Conclusions

Health-related characteristics were more significantly associated with oral discomfort than sociodemographic characteristics. Since sociodemographic characteristics are not easily changed, government and healthcare providers should strive to improve the health of the elderly population.

Keywords: Elderly people, Elderly welfare facilities, Oral discomfort, Xerostomia

References

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Table 1.
Sociodemographic characteristics of study participants
Categories N %
Gender Male 57 32.4
Female 119 67.6
Total 176 100.0
Age (year) 65-69 16 9.1
70-74 26 14.8
75-79 56 31.8
80-84 55 31.3
85≤ 23 13.1
Total 176 100.0
Education Elementary school≥ 111 63.1
Middle school 24 13.6
High school 28 15.9
College≤ 13 7.4
Total 176 100.0
Living together Living alone 96 54.5
Spouse 66 37.5
Spouse and others 5 2.8
Others 9 5.1
Total 176 100.0
Table 2.
The mean indices of oral discomfort factors by 5 point Likert Scale
Oral discomfort factors M±SD†
Total 1.49±1.12
Xerostomia 2.35±1.56
Halitosis 1.47±1.05
Dentinal hypersensitivity 1.44±0.94
Pain for chewing food 1.70±1.29
Wound in the oral 1.08±0.48
Pain in the gum 1.22±0.73
Burning mouth syndrome 1.11±0.58
Defective restorations 1.57±1.24
Chewing difficulty caused by the tooth loss 1.48±1.16
Other 1.32±0.94

† 1: No discomfort, 5: Very discomfort.

Table 3.
Comparison with total of oral discomfort score according to sociodemographic characteristics
Categories M±SD P
Gender§ Male 13.79±3.24 .007
Female 15.44±4.62
Age (year)† 65-69 14.25±3.34 .405
70-74 15.08±4.77
75-79 14.20±4.13
80-84 15.24±4.00
85≤ 16.09±5.22
Education† Elementary school≥ 15.48±4.20 .071
Middle school 14.71±5.45
High school 13.71±3.71
College≤ 12.92±2.69
Living alone§ Yes 14.97±4.22 .825
No 14.83±4.38

Total of discomfort score in participant is 14.90 (±4.28).

§ t-test,

† ANOVA.

Table 4.
Multiple regression analysis on the oral discomfort score of sociodemographic characteristics and health-related characteristics (Stepwise)
Independent variables B SE R2 Adjusted R2 R2 change P-value
Model 1: SDC†
Constant 16.346 0.624 0.000
Education ―0.861 0.320 0.200 0.040 0.034 0.040 0.008
Model 2: HRC‡
Constant 19.934 0.637 0.000
Perceived oral health ―2.073 0.238 ―0.551 0.304 0.300 0.304 0.000
Model 3: SDC†+HRC‡
Constant 17.674 1.181 0.000
Perceived oral health ―2.035 0.236 ―0.541 0.304 0.300 0.304 0.000
Gender 1.293 0.572 0.142 0.324 0.316 0.020 0.025

Dependent variables is total of oral discomfort score.

† SDC: sociodemographic characteristics,

‡ HRC: health-related characteristics.

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