우리나라 노인의 구강건강상태 및 관리행태와 주관적 건강상태와의 관련성: 제7기 국민건강영양조사(2016–2018)를 이용하여

Abstract

Background: It is getting important to improve the oral health status of the elderly because oral health status may affect their healthstatus of the whole body. In this respect, we aimed to explore the association of oral health status and behavior factors withself-rated health status by sex. Methods: Using the data from the 7th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for health surveys and oralexaminations (2016–2018), we analyzed a total of 3,070 people aged 65 or older (men: 1,329; women: 1,741). Our dependentvariable, self-rated health status, was divided into two groups: not good (bad and very bad) and good (very good, good, and fair),whereas our independent variables of interest were oral health status and behavior factors. In addition to descriptive analysis and theRao-Scott chi-square test, reflecting survey characteristics, we conducted hierarchical multivariable logistic regression analysesadjusted for socio-demographics and health status and behavior factors. All analyses were stratified by sex. Results: The proportion of people having ‘not good’ self-rated health was 36.5% in women but 24.5% in men. In a model adjusted forall covariates, the self-rated health status showed significant association with the self-rated oral health status. For example, in men,the risk of having ‘not good’ self-rated health was high in people having ‘poor’ (odds ratio [OR], 5.31; 95% confidence interval [CI],2.34–12.03) self-rated oral health status and in those having ‘fair’ (OR, 4.03; 95% CI, 1.68–9.70) in comparison with those having‘good’ self-rated oral health status. Dental status regarding speaking difficulty seemed to be very important in influencing self-ratedhealth status. For instance, in women, compared to people having ‘no discomfort’ speaking difficulty, the risk of having ‘not good’self-rated health was high in people having ‘not bad’ (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.14–2.24) and ‘discomfort’ (OR, 1.79; 95% CI, 1.30–2.47)speaking difficulty. The covariates significantly associated with the risk of having ‘not good’ self-rated health were: physical activity,chronic disease, stress, and body mass index in both sexes; health insurance type and drinking only in men; and economic activityonly in women. Conclusion: Oral health status and behavioral factors were associated with self-rated health status among the elderly, differently bysex. This suggests that public health policies toward better health in the elderly should take their oral health status and oral healthbehaviors into account in a sex-specific way.