Association between frailty and oral health services use in Brazilian older adults.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the association between frailty and oral health services use in Brazilian older adults. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analysed the baseline data from the Longitudinal Study on Brazilian Ageing (ELSI-Brazil) representative of Brazilians aged 50 or over. The outcome was oral health services used in the year prior to the interview. The main exposure variable was Frailty defined by the frailty phenotype. Age, skin colour, wealth, sex, education, type of service, health insurance, number of teeth and self-perceived oral health were included as covariates. Prevalence ratios (PR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Poisson regression with robust variance. RESULTS: 8405 individuals were included in this study. The prevalence of frailty was 7.5%. Regarding frailty status, the prevalence of dental service use was 47.0%, 48.5% and 4.5% for robust, pre-frail and frail individuals, respectively. Frail individuals had a 7% higher prevalence of not using dental (PR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.01-1.13) than robust individuals. Frailty was independently associated with not using oral health services. CONCLUSION: Given the complexity of the determinants of dental service use, frailty adds another dimension to be examined in older adults. Public health strategies considering a common risk factor approach should be endorsed.

Preventive dental service use and oral health-related quality of life in Brazilian older adults.

BACKGROUND: Information on the use of preventive dental services and associated variables is needed to guide policy for the old adult population and consequently promote better oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between preventive dental service use and OHRQoL by older Brazilians. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out using the baseline data of participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Stud of Aging (ELSEI-Brazil) who were aged 60 years or more. Associations with the use of preventive dental services were carried out using Poisson regression models with robust variance, adjusting for confounders. RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 5432 older adults. Almost all (90.7%) participants reported not having sought preventive dental services in the last year. Individuals who used dental services for prevention had fewer impacts on their OHRQoL (RR: 0.74; [95% CI: 0.57-0.97]). CONCLUSION: Preventive dental service use is associated with a better OHRQoL in older Brazilians. Policies to improve access to preventive dental services may result in improved OHRQoL in this age group.

Social capital and dental service use in older Brazilians.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of dental services use and its association with social capital among Brazilian older adults. BACKGROUND: Health inequities can be explained by the social determinants of health, which are the social, environmental, cultural and behavioural factors that directly or indirectly affect people's health. Among these determinants is social capital, that seem to affect health behaviours, such as use of dental services among older adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study using baseline data from the Longitudinal Study of the Health of the Brazilian Elderly, nationally representative of people aged 50 years or older. The baseline survey was carried out between 2015 and 2016, using structured questionnaires. The dependent variable was use of dental services in the last year. The main exposure variable was social capital, assessed through two dimensions: structural and cognitive. The covariates used were sex, skin colour, age, education, wealth, need for dental treatment, self-perception of oral health, tooth loss, type of dental services used, reason for dental care, smoking and alcohol consumption. Descriptive analyses and Poisson regression modelling were used. RESULTS: The sample consisted of 9323 individuals. The prevalence of dental services use was 32.6% (95% CI: 30.7-34.5). No associations were found between social capital and the use of dental services. CONCLUSION: This study did not find an association between structural and cognitive social capital and dental services use in Brazilian older adults. Further researches using instruments with different assessments of social capital are needed.

Pathways Between Religiosity and Tooth Loss in Older Adults in Brazil.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the direct and indirect pathways between religiosity and tooth loss in older adults from Brazil. We analyzed the data of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging, a nationally representative study of individuals aged 50 years or older. The pathways were analyzed through structural equation modeling. A total of 9073 individuals were evaluated. It was observed that oral hygiene and smoking were mediators of the relationship between religiosity and tooth loss, through spirituality and social support, respectively. Spirituality also directly influenced the tooth loss.

The mediating role of social capital in socioeconomic inequalities of oral health behaviours among Brazilian older adults.

OBJECTIVES: Knowledge of the possible pathways linking socioeconomic status (SES) to oral health-related behaviours can improve the understanding of inequalities in oral health. Therefore, in this study, it was investigated whether social capital mediates the relationship between SES and oral health behaviours. METHODS: Through a cross-sectional study, data were analysed from participants aged ≥60 years from the Brazilian National Health Survey 2019 (n = 21 575). Structural equation modelling was used to test the direct and indirect pathways from a latent variable for SES to a latent variable for oral health behaviours: daily flossing, toothbrushing frequency and the use of dental care services. RESULTS: The maximum likelihood estimator was used for complex samples with robust standard errors, and the final model demonstrated an adequate fit. The findings demonstrated that a higher SES was directly associated with better oral health-related behaviours (standardized coefficient [SC]: 0.82; [90% CI: 0.78-0.85]) and indirectly via structural social capital (SC: 0.05; [90% CI: 0.02-0.07]). The total effect of SES on oral health-related behaviours was (SC: 0.87, [90% CI: 0.85-0.89]). CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate that structural social capital in older Brazilian adults might partly mediate the pathways to socioeconomic inequalities in oral health behaviours. However, there is a direct effect on oral health behaviours, reinforcing the hypothesis that SES is associated with oral health, based on paths that link income inequality to oral health.