Oral Health-related Quality of Life in a German Working Population

Objectives: Due to the fact that diagnostic findings only partially correlate with patients' health perception, measuring oral health related quality of life (OHQoL) as an indicator of patient's well-being and the quality of health care services has become accepted as an explicit criterion of evaluation. However, little is known about determinants that influence a person's perception. The aim of this study was to detect relationships between objective and subjective oral health.

Methods: Workers of 6 companies based in Dresden, Germany were offered a regular dental examination including caries, periodontal, prosthetic, soft tissue, functional and esthetic findings. OHQoL was measured using the German version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-G, 53 items) supplemented by a short questionnaire on sociodemographic items. The additive score of all item responses (OHIP-ADD score, range 0-212) rises with the level of impairment. Descriptive and univariate procedures were used for statistical analysis.

Results: After all data had been checked for completeness, 861 (95.7%) data-files remained. The mean OHIP-ADD score was relatively small (mean ± standard deviation: 15.3±16.2 / median: 10.0). Univariate odds ratios (ORs) of belonging to a target group with impaired OHQoL (OHIP-ADD > 36) were estimated using the SAS/STAT-software-package. The cut-off point was defined heuristically and conformed to the 90% percentile. The risk of belonging to the target group was significantly higher in women than in men (OR=1.61, p=0.036), higher in older people (54-65 years vs. <35 years, OR=3.68, p=0.002), higher when occluding pairs were missing (OR=2.38; p=0.006), and lower with high educational level (OR=0.34, p=0.0063).

Conclusion: Univariate statistical analysis indicates relationships between impaired OHRQoL and demographic variables as well as dental aspects. Whether further multivariate analyses will affirm them as indicators, remains to be seen. Generally, it seems worth discussing whether the OHIP-G is an appropriate instrument for measuring OHQoL in a working population.