Association Between Edentulism and Chronic Disease in a Brazilian Older Adult Population

The present study aimed to identify the chronic diseases present in Brazilian older adults that are associated with total edentulism.

This study is characterized as cross-sectional and population-based. The database from the last National Health Survey (NHS) in Brazil was used to conduct it. The study population consisted of older adults aged 60 years or older. The chronic diseases analyzed were hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, asthma, rheumatism, back problems, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, schizophrenia, chronic lung diseases, cancer and kidney failure. The Chi-squared test was initially used in the data analysis. Then, adjusted prevalence ratios were estimated using Poisson regression with robust variance, including all covariates in the model to identify chronic diseases associated with total edentulism.

A total of 22,728 older adults were included. The prevalence of total edentulous older adults was 31.7%. The most prevalent chronic diseases in these completely edentulous older adults were hypertension (55.5%), back problems (29.1%) and high cholesterol (26.6%). Total edentulism in older adults was associated with the female sex (p<0.001), being older (p<0.001), illiterate (p<0.001), those who do not have health insurance (p<0.001), older adults who have hypertension (p<0.001), diabetes (p=0.004), and those who suffered a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) (p<0.001).

It is concluded that total edentulism in older adults is associated with worse socioeconomic conditions and with individuals who have hypertension, diabetes and who have suffered a stroke.