Socio-economic impact on oral health-related quality of life of Parkinson's disease patients: Evidence from India
The severity of physical and mental impairments and oral problems, as well as socioeconomic factors, may have an impact on quality of life of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. The aim of this research was to assess the impact of impairments and oral health conditions, adjusted by socioeconomic factors, on the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients.
METHODS:
Sixty Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, between 55-74 years of age were selected. Their caregivers answered a OHRQoL instrument (5 domains) which combines the Parental-Caregivers Perception Questionnaire (P-CPQ) and Family Impact Scale (FIS). Written informed consent to participate in this study was obtained from all the participants. The severity of dental caries, communication ability, gross motor function, seizures and socioeconomic conditions were assessed.
RESULTS:
Considering the total score of the OHRQoL instrument, only the reduction of communication ability and dental caries severity had a negative impact on the OHRQoL (p < 0.05). Considering each domain of the instrument, the severity of the Parkinson’s disease (PD) and its reduction of communication ability showed a negative impact on oral symptoms and functional limitations domains (p < 0.05). Seizures have a negative impact on oral symptoms domain (p = 0.006). The multivariate fitted model showed that the severity of dental caries, communication ability and low family income were negatively associated with the impact on OHRQoL (p = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS:
The severity of dental caries, communication ability, and family income are conditions strongly associated with a negative impact on OHRQoL of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. All these conditions should be assessed before medical and/or dental treatment of the patients to prepare an appropriate treatment protocol and optimize oral health. Clinicians should routinely check patients’ oral health in order to maintain high quality of life of Parkinson’s disease patients. We suggest short and frequent dental visits for having high range attention of the Parkinson’s disease patients.