Clinic for Prosthetic Dentistry and Dental Materials Science, Leipzig University Medical Center, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Clinic of General, Special Care and Geriatric Dentistry, University of Zurich, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland.
BMC Geriatr. 2022 Jan 31;22(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-02758-5.
This study aimed to investigate the utilization of dental services by older seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate their ability of finding, understanding, and using information on COVID-19.
At the end of February 2021, a survey addressing demographic characteristics of the participants, (pain-associated) utilization of dental services, worries regarding a potential COVID-19 infection, the individual use of protective masks, and difficulties regarding the access to information on COVID-19 (by using the modified European Health Literacy Questionnaire [HLS-EU-Q16]) was developed. It was sent to all patients of the Dental Clinic of University of Leipzig who were either 75, 80, or 85 years old (n = 1228). Participation was voluntarily and anonymously; questionnaires had to be returned within six weeks, no reminders were sent.
Of the 439 replies (response rate 35.7%), twelve were excluded from data extraction due to disinterest, dementia, or lack of age information. Of the older seniors, 81.5% (n = 348) had utilized at least one dental examination and 54.2% of the dentulous patients (n = 199) had attended at least one dental hygiene appointment within the past year. Up to 55.8% of all participants said it was "difficult" or "very difficult" to find, understand, and use information on COVID-19, especially when judging reliability of information presented in the media, which was especially true for seniors with assigned care levels presenting odds ratios up to 5.30.
The investigation revealed a frequent utilization of dental services by older seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the older seniors encountered difficulties finding, using, and understanding information about COVID-19.
本研究旨在调查 COVID-19 大流行期间老年患者对牙科服务的利用情况，并评估他们对 COVID-19 相关信息的获取、理解和使用能力。
2021 年 2 月底，我们开发了一项调查，内容涉及参与者的人口统计学特征、（与疼痛相关的）牙科服务利用情况、对潜在 COVID-19 感染的担忧、个人使用防护口罩的情况，以及获取 COVID-19 相关信息的困难程度（使用改良的欧洲健康素养问卷[HLS-EU-Q16]）。它被发送给莱比锡大学牙科诊所的所有年龄在 75、80 或 85 岁的患者（n=1228）。参与是自愿和匿名的；问卷必须在六周内回复，不会发送提醒。
在 439 份回复中（回应率为 35.7%），由于不感兴趣、痴呆或缺乏年龄信息，有 12 份被排除在数据提取之外。在老年患者中，81.5%（n=348）至少接受过一次牙科检查，54.2%的有牙患者（n=199）在过去一年中至少接受过一次口腔卫生预约。多达 55.8%的参与者表示，他们在获取、理解和使用 COVID-19 相关信息方面存在困难或非常困难，尤其是在判断媒体呈现的信息可靠性方面，对于指定护理级别较高的老年人来说，这一点尤其正确，其比值比高达 5.30。
本研究发现，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，老年患者经常利用牙科服务。然而，老年患者在获取、使用和理解 COVID-19 相关信息方面存在困难。
