ASSESSING ORAL HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE - FINDINGS FROM THE NORMATIVE AGING STUDY

The contribution of oral health to health-related quality of life (HQO L) has seldom been examined. This study was designed to develop and va lidate a measure of oral health-related quality of life (OHQOL), exami ne relations between OHQOL and HQOL, and explore OHQOL's relation to p roblem-based dental care utilization in a sample of 1,242 older men, u sing data gathered by a mail survey. Factor analysis of eight oral hea lth items revealed that three items related to the impact of oral cond itions on daily functioning defined a factor labeled OHQOL. Factor ana lysis of the HQOL items and these three OHQOL items showed that OHQOL represents a separate and independent factor. Correlational analyses s upported the construct validity of the OHQOL measure: Men with better OHQOL scores reported less dental pain or discomfort, fewer eating pro blems, and less problem-based dental care utilization. Logistic regres sion analysis showed that the measures of dental pain and oral discomf ort were related positively to utilization, whereas OHQOL was related negatively. These results suggest that OHQOL represents a separate and distinct facet of HQOL that is associated with dental care utilizatio n. Thus they support the validity of the OHQOL construct and suggest i ts use in future studies of HQOL.