The General and Oral Health Status in Older Adults from Rural Environment of Iasi County, Romania
The General and Oral Health Status in Older Adults from Rural Environment of Iasi County, Romania

Summary/Abstract: The older adults present different combinations of chronic multi-morbidity and functional limitations which determines health and social problems. The aim of the study was to assess the health status (general and oral) of the older adults because it can offer valuable information for estimation of the necessary health services. The targeted objectives were: the evaluation of oral morbidity, oral health related behaviors and attitudes towards oral health; evaluation of general morbidity; study of the addressability to health services and evaluation supplying medicines for rural area. From January–December 2016, we conducted a prevalence study focused on the main indicators of morbidity (general and oral). In our study were included 196 subjects, aged 65-74 years, 45.41% males, 54.59% females, from the rural community of Iasi County, in North Eastern region of Romania. In the studied group, the general morbidity model was the same for both male and female gender: in male gender, the morbidity was dominated by the cardiovascular diseases (63.24%), chronic digestive diseases (33.82%), diabetes mellitus (29.41%), osteoarticular diseases (27.94%), accidents and traumatisms (26.47%) and chronic respiratory diseases (23.53%); in female gender, it was also dominated by the cardiovascular diseases (67.82%), followed by diabetes mellitus (32.18%), osteoarticular diseases (31.03%) and chronic digestive diseases (24.14%). The oral morbidity model was relatively different between genders. At male gender, the predominant diseases were: dental caries (57.30%), lip and mucosal diseases (28.09%, OR=1.51, p<0.05), trauma (24.24%, OR=2.68, p<0.05) and total edentulism (25.84%). At female gender, the predominant diseases were: caries disease (59.81%), non-carious dental disorders (42.67%), periodontal disease (41.33%, OR=1.48, p<0.05) and total edentulism (29.91%).

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