Keuskamp Dominic, Amarasena Najith, Balasubramanian Madhan, Brennan David S
Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, Adelaide Dental School, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
Aust J Prim Health. 2018 May;24(2):177-182. doi: 10.1071/PY17060.
Annual health assessments by general practices for community-dwelling people aged 75 years and over are important for the early intervention and monitoring of chronic health conditions, including oral disease. Uptake of the health assessment to date has been poor, and little is known of the general and oral health profile of patients. Older patients attending health assessments at general practices in South Australia were sampled for this study. Data on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, and patients' general and oral health, were collected by mailed questionnaire from 459 respondents. By comparison with national estimates, patients attending health assessments fared worse in many of the measures, such as self-rated general health, quality of life and the prevalence of most chronic conditions, as well as their socioeconomic circumstances. Also identified were a high degree of nutritional risk and clear need for oral health treatment, with poor self-rated oral health being three-fold higher than the national age-eligible population. Patients attending health assessments would likely benefit from nutritional screening (by a validated tool) and specific assessment of their oral health and dentition, supported by appropriate referral or intervention.
普通全科医生为75岁及以上社区居民进行年度健康评估，对于包括口腔疾病在内的慢性健康状况的早期干预和监测至关重要。到目前为止，健康评估的接受情况不佳，对患者的总体健康和口腔健康状况了解甚少。本研究对南澳大利亚普通全科诊所参加健康评估的老年患者进行了抽样。通过邮寄问卷从459名受访者那里收集了有关人口统计学和社会经济特征以及患者总体健康和口腔健康的数据。与全国估计数相比，参加健康评估的患者在许多指标上表现更差，如自我评估的总体健康状况、生活质量、大多数慢性病的患病率以及他们的社会经济状况。还发现存在高度的营养风险，对口腔健康治疗有明确需求，自我评估的口腔健康状况不佳的比例比符合年龄标准的全国人口高三倍。参加健康评估的患者可能会受益于（通过经过验证的工具进行的）营养筛查以及对其口腔健康和牙列的具体评估，并得到适当的转诊或干预支持。
