Prevalence and determinants of dental visits among older adults: findings of a nationally representative longitudinal study

• Published in: BMC health services research Vol. 19; no. 1; p. 590
• Main Authors: Spinler, K, Aarabi, G, Valdez, R, Kofahl, C, Heydecke, G, König, H-H, Hajek, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central 20-08-2019; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dental Care - statistics & numerical data; Dental services utilization; Dental visits; Female; German ageing survey; Germany - epidemiology; Health care use; Humans; Independent Living; Longitudinal Studies; Longitudinal study; Male; Middle Aged; Older adults; Oral Health - statistics & numerical data; Overweight - epidemiology; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Prevalence; Spouses; Surveys and Questionnaires; Germany; Dental services utilization; German ageing survey; Dental visits; Older adults; Health care use; Longitudinal study
• ISSN: 1472-6963; 1472-6963
• DOI: 10.1186/s12913-019-4427-0

The first aim was to present descriptive data on the frequency of dental visits among older adults in Germany. The second aim was to identify the determinants of the number of dental visits using a longitudinal approach.
Longitudinal data were derived from the German Ageing Survey, which is a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling individuals ≥40 years in Germany. The frequency of dental visits in the past 12 months was recorded in the years 2002, 2008 and 2011. In order to control for time-constant unobserved heterogeneity, Poisson fixed effects regressions were used.
While the mean number of dental visits was 2.3 (SD: 2.0) in 2002, it was 2.0 (SD: 1.7) in 2008 and 2.1 (SD: 1.7) in 2011. The frequency of dental visits declined with age (total sample and women), transitions from normal weight to overweight (total sample), changes from divorced/widowed/single/married, living separated from spouse to 'married, living together with spouse' in women and with a decrease in the number of physical illnesses (total sample and men).
The frequency of dental visits declines with age in older adults. While some of the determinants of frequency are non-modifiable (e.g., ageing and worsening of general health), others are modifiable (e.g., change in weight category).