Abstract
Introduction: The World Health Organization describe Quality of life as “an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value system of which they live with the relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns”. Measures of oral health related quality of life (OHRQL) capture non clinical aspects of oral health that people seem most relevant to their overall health and well- being.
Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine the association between OHRQoL and psychological distress in a sample of electro- industry workers in Macedonia.
Methods: Cross-sectional design. The study sample was randomly drawn with simple random sampling from a larger group of workers from the electro- industry, when they attended obligatory periodical medical examinations at the Institute of Occupational Health of RM in Skopje. The study was conducted in the period September- October 2016. A questionnaire survey was carried out to assess the OHRQoL and psychological well- being of these workers, by using the Oral Impact on Daily Performances (OIDP) Questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ- 28), respectively. Participation was voluntary and consent to participate was given during completing and returning questionnaires. The relationships between the OIDP scores and psychological well-being dimensions were tested using bivariate analyses.
Results: A total of 170 male workers (N=170) with a mean age of 45.6 ± 9.0 years participated in the study. The highest single mean OIDP scores for daily performances were detected for eating (3.5±3.4) and cleaning teeth/dentures (2.2±2.5). The most frequent oral problems perceived by workers were tartar (31.2%), tooth pain (21.8%) and decayed teeth (19.4%). The impact score for eating showed a significant positive correlation with the Somatic GHQ score (r=0.179; p=0.019), the anxiety GHQ score (r=0.230; p=0.003), and the Social GHQ score (r=0.152 p=0.048).
Conclusions: This study found that in the group studied OHRQoL was strongly associated with somatic and social well-being as well as insomnia and anxiety. It showed that psychological distress in the workers was related to poorer OHRQoL. It is therefore suggested that public health authorities should take the periodic use of the OHRQoL examination into consideration in order to improve psychological well-being in workers.
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