Evaluation of changes in oral health-related quality of life over time in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome

Abstract

Objectives

To assess oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and changes in OHRQoL in 3 years of patients with Sjögren’s symdrome (SS).

Methods

Thirty-five SS patients and 23 non-SS individuals were enrolled. OHRQoL were quantitatively evaluated using the shortened Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14). After 3 years, 22 patients and 14 controls tool the OHIP-14 survey again.

Results

The SS group had a significantly higher OHIP-14 score, which indicated a lower OHRQoL, than the non-SS group. Among individual questions in the OHIP-14, scores for ‘trouble pronouncing words’, ‘uncomfortable to eat foods’, ‘self-conscious’, and ‘diet unsatisfactory’ were markedly higher in the SS group than in the non-SS group. The OHIP-14 score significantly increased in 3 years in the SS group. Furthermore, there was an inverse correlation between the change rate of salivary flow rate and change of OHIP-14 scores in 3 years in patients with SS whose OHIP-14 score increased. Scores for ‘irritable with other people’, ‘difficulty doing usual jobs’, ‘felt life less satisfying’, and ‘unable to function’ significantly increased in 3 years.

Conclusion

In SS, OHRQoL decreased in 3 years, which was associated with a decrease in saliva secretion. Moreover, troubles related to psychosocial aspects in SS patients were found to intensify over time.

Keywords:

• Oral Health Impact Profile
• Oral health-related quality of life
• Psychosocial trouble
• Saliva
• Sjögren’s syndrome

Conflict of interest

None.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology [MEXT KAKENHI Grant number JP22791820] and grants for intractable diseases from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare.