Association and mediators between the impact of oral health-related quality of life and depression.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Our research intended to explore the association and mediators (perceived social support and sleep quality) between the impact of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and depression among Chinese older adults. METHODS: A stratified, multi-stage random sampling approach was used in our study. A total of 3896 older individuals aged 60 years and older were included. Process macro 3.5 for SPSS was utilized for testing mediation hypotheses. RESULTS: The mean score of the OHRQoL of the elderly was 3.26 ± 7.15. The correlation coefficient between OHRQoL and depression was 0.25 (p < 0.001). Perceived social support (ß = 0.009, 95% CI = 0.006, 0.012) and sleep quality (ß = 0.073, 95% CI = 0.074, 0.093) mediated the relationship between OHRQoL and depression, respectively. The association between OHRQoL and depression was mediated sequentially by perceived social support and sleep quality (ß = 0.004, 95% CI = 0.002, 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: The participants reported relatively good OHRQoL. OHRQoL and depression showed a significant positive correlation. The relationship between OHRQoL and depression among Chinese seniors was mediated by perceived social support and sleep quality. Both directly and indirectly, OHRQoL can affect depression.