Significant association of oral health-related quality of life with mental depression in middle-aged and older Taiwanese adults

Background/purpose: With the gradual aging of the population, oral health has emerged as a critical concern alongside mental well-being. This study endeavored to investigate the relationship between oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and mental depression in middle-aged and older population. Materials and methods: Based on the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging in 2015, 7631 participants were enrolled. OHRQoL was assessed utilizing the Taiwan version of the Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire, stratifying individuals into five categories (excellent, good, fair, poor, and very poor). The excellent OHRQoL group was regarded as the reference group. Depression status was evaluated using the 10-item Center for the Epidemiological Studies of Depression Short Form questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's chi square test were applied to elucidate the demographic characteristics and the differences among the five OHRQoL groups, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to elucidate the association of OHRQoL with depression after controlling for confounding factors. Results: After controlling for covariates such as age, sex, marital status, living status, residency status, religion, level of physical activity, and pressures arising from personal or familial concerns, the adjusted ORs of experiencing mental depression were 1.45 (95% CI: 1.198-1.760, P < 0.001), 2.25 (95% CI: 1.791-2.829, P < 0.001), 3.88 (95% CI: 2.730-5.525, P < 0.001), and 6.87 (95% CI: 3.116-15.129, P < 0.001) for the good, fair, poor, and very poor OHRQoL groups, respectively, which demonstrated a gradually increased relationship. Conclusion: Oral health-related quality of life was negatively associated with mental depression in middle-aged and older adults. (c) 2025 Association for Dental Sciences of the Republic of China. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).