Determinants of Arthritis and the Impact of Oral Health among Middle and Older Adults of Korea: From the 7th KNHANES (2016-2018)

Abstract

Arthritis and oral health problems are dramatically increasing. But rare studies were existed. Our study was aimed to investigate major affecting factors of arthritis and impact of oral health. A total of 4722 participants aged 35 and older were involved in cross-sectional study with the 7th KNHANES, nationally reliable data. To find out the determinant factors of arthritis and the impact of oral health, multi-variable- logistic regression of complex- sampling- methods by SPSS was used. Arthritis was defined as doctors diagnosed one.As results of our research, the prevalence of arthritis were 31.0% of aged 65 and over group and 8.1% of 35-64 aged-group. The most major determinants of arthritis were education level, gender(female), oral health (chewing ability), including ageing among middle-older Koreans. The next determinant factors of arthritis were alcohol drinking, obesity and dietary supplements significantly. Within our knowledge, this study is the first one about determinants of arthritis and oral health. The noticeable point was high-lightening on the importance of chewing ability known as important indicator of general health and quality of life.Therefore, well specified and tailored public health interventions considered by education level, oral health, gender, ageing and enhancing and focusing on chewing ability level should be urgently prepared to manage arthritis.