Oral Health-related Quality Of Life Of Villagers In A Semi-urban District In Malaysia

Oral health is essential to general health. It influences the quality of life of an individual. Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is the impact of oral disease or conditions in the oral cavity on functional, psychosocial and pain, including discomfort. The objective of this study was to investigate OHRQoL of villagers in a semi-urban district in Malaysia in relation to diabetes mellitus, hypertension and overweight or obesity using the validated Malay version of the General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI-Malay). A cross-sectional study was conducted using a stratified two-stage sampling method.Participants were asked to rate their oral health status. They were then interviewed by using the validated GOHAI-Malay questionnaire. The data were tested for normality using Shapiro-Wilks test. Subsequently, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis
statistical tests were used to determine the level of significance set at p<0.05. A total of two hundred participants from four villages were interviewed. The age of the participants was between 18 to 89 years old with mean age of 55.3 (±16.5) years. A total of 56.5% of participants interviewed were females and 13.5% had tertiary education. The mean GOHAI score was 53.66 (±7.4) which ranged from 30 to 60. It was found that 47.5% of the participants showed good quality of life (QOL), 24.0% fair and 28.5% poor. The GOHAI score was statistically significant according to age groups (p<0.001), level of education (p<0.001) and hypertension (p=0.003). The OHRQoL was inversely related to age. Participants with higher educational level indicated
better OHRQoL. Participants with hypertension as an underlying health condition appeared to have lower perception of OHRQoL. These findings provide the input in designing intervention activities involving medical and dental practitioners to improve OHRQoL among villagers with hypertension.
Key words: GOHAI, quality of life, OHRQoL, hypertension, elders