Indicators of oral health in older adults with and without the presence of multimorbidity: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the distribution of various indicators of oral health among elderly people with and without multimorbidity (ie, two or more chronic diseases).

Subjects and methods

A cross-sectional, comparative study was conducted using a sample of Mexican elderly individuals aged ≥60 years. The average age of the cohort was 79.06±9.78 years, and 69.1% were women. The variables indicating oral health were as follows: functional dentition, edentulism, hyposalivation, xerostomia, root caries and periodontitis. The multimorbidity variable was operationally categorized as follows: 0= subjects with no chronic disease or one chronic disease and 1= subjects with two or more chronic diseases. Questionnaires were used to collect information on various variables regarding general health. Likewise, the participants underwent a clinical oral examination. The analysis was performed using Stata 11.0.

Results

The overall prevalence of multimorbidity was 27.3%. The prevalences of various oral health indicators were as follows: without functional dentition 89.9%; hyposalivation 59.7%; edentulism 38.9% and self-reported xerostomia 25.2%. Dental caries were observed in 95.3% of the subjects, and the prevalence of severe periodontitis was 80%. We found a significant difference only in edentulism; its prevalence was higher among subjects with multimorbidity (55.3% vs 32.7%, P=0.015) than among those without multimorbidity.

Conclusion

The presence of edentulism in this sample of Mexican older adults was higher in subjects with multimorbidity. Multimorbidity and oral diseases constitute a true challenge in elderly people, because they affect quality of life and are associated with high health care costs.

Keywords:

• older adults
• multimorbidity
• oral health
• edentulism
• tooth loss

Acknowledgments

Publication supported by the Ministry of Education, Mexican Federal Government, through of The Faculty Development Program (PRODEP).

Author contributions

Horacio Islas-Granillo, Socorro Aida Borges-Yañez and Carlo Eduardo Medina-Solís were involved in the design study, analyzed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. José de Jesús Navarrete-Hernández, Miriam Alejandra Veras-Hernández, Juan Fernando Casanova-Rosado, Mirna Minaya-Sánchez, Alejandro José Casanova-Rosado, and Miguel Ángel Fernández-Barrera were involved in the conception of the paper, analysis, and interpretation of the results. All the authors discussed the methods, summaries, analyses, and results in the study and were involved in the writing of this paper. All authors contributed toward data analysis, drafting and revising the paper, gave final approval of the version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.