College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
College of Nursing and Research Institute of Nursing Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2022 Sep;22(9):766-772. doi: 10.1111/ggi.14452. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
This study aimed to examine the relationship between oral health and social activity, and explore the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on the relationship between oral health and social activity among community-dwelling older adults in Korea.
A total of 5033 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥65 years were included in the analysis. Data were obtained from the seventh wave (2018) of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation analysis and path analysis for mediation analysis were used.
Path analysis showed that older adults with better oral health had more social activities (β = 0.177, P < 0.001) and fewer depressive symptoms (β = -0.174, P < 0.001). Depressive symptoms had a mediating role partially in the relationship between oral health and social activity (β = 0.014, P < 0.001). The results of in-depth exploration using oral health subdomains showed that physical oral function and oral pain or discomfort were directly related to the social activity (β = 0.083 and β = 0.149, respectively) and indirectly mediated by depressive symptoms (β = 0.006 and β = 0.004, respectively). However, psychosocial oral function only had an indirect effect on social activity mediated by depressive symptoms (β = 0.006, P = 0.005).
Better oral health had a significant association with higher levels of social activities, which was partially mediated by decreased depressive symptoms. It is necessary to pay more attention to oral health promotion for older adults to decrease depressive symptoms and increase participation in social activities. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2022; 22: 766-772.
本研究旨在探讨口腔健康与社会活动之间的关系，并探索抑郁症状在口腔健康与社区老年人社会活动之间的关系中的中介作用。
共纳入 5033 名≥65 岁的社区老年人进行分析。数据来自韩国老龄化纵向研究的第七波（2018 年）。采用描述性统计、Pearson 相关分析和路径分析进行中介分析。
路径分析显示，口腔健康状况较好的老年人社会活动较多（β=0.177，P<0.001），抑郁症状较少（β=-0.174，P<0.001）。抑郁症状在口腔健康和社会活动之间的关系中起部分中介作用（β=0.014，P<0.001）。使用口腔健康亚领域进行深入探索的结果表明，身体口腔功能和口腔疼痛或不适与社会活动直接相关（β=0.083 和β=0.149），并通过抑郁症状间接介导（β=0.006 和β=0.004）。然而，心理社会口腔功能仅通过抑郁症状对社会活动产生间接影响（β=0.006，P=0.005）。
更好的口腔健康与更高水平的社会活动显著相关，这部分是通过抑郁症状的减少来介导的。有必要更加关注老年人的口腔健康促进，以减少抑郁症状并增加他们参与社会活动的机会。
国际老年医学与老年学杂志 2022 年；22：766-772。
