The Relationship Between Oral Discomfort and Depression of Elderly People in Korea

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between oral discomfort (independent variables: 10 items) and depression scale (dependent variable) in elderly people of Korea.
Methods: We selected four facilities with convenient sampling in Jeollabuk-do Province from 2014 Elderly Welfare Facilities Status Report of Korean Government. We could not use random sampling because we should have interview with questionnaire. We chose elderly person aged 65 years and over without psychotic problem or disease. Total participants were 163.
The integrated Korean version of the CES-D(Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale; 4-point Likert) was used for evaluating depression scale. Five point Likert Scale was used for the status of oral discomfort level and then the total score of oral discomfort was calculated by adding the points of 10 items. Ten independent variables were ‘discomfort caused by drying mouth’, ‘chewing difficulty caused by the tooth loss’, ‘halitosis’, ‘dentinal hypersensitivity’, ‘pain for chewing food’, ‘wound in the oral cavity’, ‘pain in the gum’, ‘burning mouth syndrome’, ‘defective restorations’, and ‘other oral discomfort’.
The collected data were input to SPSS 12.0 and analyzed with the descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson correlation, Cronbach’s α and multiple regression with stepwise.
Results: There was significantly positive correlation of 0.426 in the relationship between the total oral discomfort score and depression scale (P<0.01). The highest score among oral discomfort factors (independent variables) was ‘discomfort caused by drying mouth’. The only two significant statistically factors which influenced the depression were ‘discomfort caused by drying mouth’ and ‘chewing difficulty caused by the tooth loss’. The rests of 8 items were not significant statistically.
Conclusions: The oral discomfort had the effect to the depression of elderly people in Korea. In order to decrease the depression, it was recommended to prevent drying mouth and tooth loss.