Psychosocial aspects associated with self-reported oral health in Brazilians older adults

Objectives: Oral health conditions can be determined by a series of factors that include psychosocial aspects. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between psychosocial aspects and self-reported oral health in Brazilian older adults. Methods: The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSI-Brazil) baseline data was analysed to develop this cross-sectional study. The outcome was self-reported oral health, and the psychosocial aspects included neighbourhood trust, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms. The associations were determined through Poisson regression models, controlling for socioeconomic, demographic and behavioural characteristics. Results: A total of 9365 individuals with aged 50 years or over were included in this study. Individuals with good life satisfaction had 16% (PR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.78-0.90) lower prevalence of having poor self-reported oral health. Individuals who have depressive symptoms and do not trust in the neighbourhood presented 17% (PR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.09-1.25) and 12% (PR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.04-1.21) higher prevalence of poor self-report oral health compared to those who did not show depressive symptoms and trust the neighbourhood. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that positive psychosocial aspects are moderately associated with better self-reported oral health. Therefore, we suggest that psychological health and social interaction should be present in public health policy actions.