Oral health related quality of life of Greek adolescents: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: European archives of paediatric dentistry Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 146 - 150
• Main Authors: Papaioannou, W., Oulis, C. J., Latsou, D., Yfantopoulos, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-06-2011; European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Cluster Analysis; Correlation; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dentistry; Female; Greece; Health aspects; Health Status; Humans; Male; Medicine; Oral Health; Oral hygiene; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Rural areas; Rural Population; Self Report; Sickness Impact Profile; Statistics, Nonparametric; Teenagers; Urban Population; Greece; oral health; quality of life; adolescents; Paediatric dentistry
• ISSN: 1818-6300; 1996-9805
• DOI: 10.1007/BF03262796

AIM:
To investigate the impact of oral health status on the quality of life of a cross-section of adolescents belonging to different population groups in different regions of Greece, using the Oral Health Impact Profile-short form (OHIP-14), one of the most widely known instruments used for the measurement of disability and discomfort due to oral conditions.
METHODS
: A random sample consisting of a total of 515 Greek adolescents between the ages of 15–18 years (mean 16.1±0.9) were selected from different urban and rural areas according to the last census. A self-administrated questionnaire was designed including the OHIP-14 validated for the Greek language, and face-to-face interviews were conducted by one dentist trained in oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) terms. Associations of the total OHIP-14 score and its seven sub-scales along with the self-perceived quality of life were evaluated with Spearman correlations.
RESULTS
: Internal reliability returned a very good internal consistency with a Cronbach alpha of 0.86. The subjects had an overall weighted OHIP-14 score of 1.24 (SD 2.04) meaning that there was an impact of oral health on the overall quality of life. Five of the seven subscales of the OHIP-14 tool were found to have significant correlations for the inhabitants of the different areas. Specifically, important and significant correlations were noted for functional limitation (p<0.01), handicap (p<0.05) and social disability (p<0.01) both for the metropolitan/non-metropolitan as well as the urban rural distinction. No correlations were found between the OHIP-14 scores, or of any of its sub-scales, with the parental education level and occupation. When self-assessed oral and general health statuses were considered to be ‘bad’ the OHIP-14 returned increased scores.
CONCLUSIONS
: Dental and oral health conditions are factors that do impact on the quality of life of adolescents.