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Updated: May 22, 2025
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN ORAL AND GENERAL HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN ADULTS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND
Danna R Paulson1, Aparna Ingleshwar2, Nicole Theis-Mahon3
1Department of Primary Dental Care, School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Objective:
The relationship between general health and oral health is critical for understanding the broader implications of oral health on overall well-being and vice versa. The impact of oral and general health on individuals can be comprehensively captured by the concepts oral and general health-related quality of life (OHRQoL and HRQoL), respectively. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize existing evidence on the correlation between OHRQoL and HRQoL across different adult populations.
Methods:
A comprehensive search strategy was executed across 6 databases (Ovid MEDLINE(R), Embase, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, and Scopus). The search included studies measuring OHRQoL with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) and HRQoL with a variety of generic patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Studies were included if they reported correlations between OHRQoL and HRQoL summary scores in adult populations across dental, medical, or nonpatient settings. If a study examined more than one population, each correlation was included for independent analysis. Data extraction and quality assessment were conducted by independent reviewers, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Random effects meta-analysis was used to summarize the OHRQoL-HRQoL correlations.
Results:
From 10 studies, 13 populations (N=6,053 participants) were included in the analysis. The correlation between general health and oral health-related quality of life was of medium size (r=0.41, 95% CI: 0.32-0.50) with high heterogeneity across populations (I2=95%). Results were not unduly influenced by individual populations, study quality, or publication bias.
Conclusions:
The correlation between oral health and general health is of medium size, highlighting the potential for medical-dental integration to enhance patient and community health outcomes.
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