Poor oral conditions among older adults can cause significant impacts to their overall quality of life. Older adults with reduced number of functional teeth and dental diseases may experience difficulty in daily activities like chewing and eating. The aim of this study is to assess the association between oral health and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among a group of community-dwelling older adults in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 436 older adults aged 50 years and above from 20 randomly selected villages in the state. Respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to collect information on their demographic characteristics. Clinical oral examination was carried out to determine the oral health conditions of older people. The validated Malay version of Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) was used to measure OHRQoL. Total GOHAI score ranged from 12 to 60 with higher scores indicate better OHRQoL. Majority (77.1%) of the older adults had less than 20 teeth and about 18.3% were edentulous (total tooth loss). All dentate respondents had experienced dental caries. The median GOHAI score was 54.5 (IQR 50-57). About 25.5% of the older adults perceived their oral health as good, while 74.5% had poor perception on oral health. Bivariate analysis showed that less than 20 teeth and high dental caries experience were significantly associated with poor OHRQoL. A significantly higher proportion of older adults with less than 20 teeth limit the kinds of food intake, had trouble biting or chewing, and experienced tooth sensitivity. The physical functioning and well-being of the older people may be disrupted due to oral diseases. Measures of OHRQoL are important as to complement the clinical oral findings in identifying treatment needs of the geriatric patients.
elderly ; GOHAI ; oral health ; quality of life

Loss of teeth can affect masticatory efficiency in older adults. This may result in avoidance or modifications in foodchoices and lead to lower intake of important nutrients among older individuals. The aim of this study was to determinethe association between tooth loss and body mass index, BMI, among older adults in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. Across-sectional study was carried out on 428 older adults aged 50 years and above from selected villages in district ofKuala Pilah. Respondents were interviewed to collect information on their demographic characteristics. Number of toothloss was determined through oral assessment, followed by anthropometric assessment to calculate the BMI of respondents.Findings showed that majority of the respondents were overweight and obese, 40.4% and 19.9% respectively, while onlya small proportion was underweight, 3.9%. The proportion of edentulism (total tooth loss) was 18.3% and majority ofthe older adults had lost more than 12 teeth (77.1%) and less than 4 pairs of occluding posterior teeth (86.0%). Totaland partial tooth loss was found to be not significantly associated with BMI. In relation to the arrangement of teeth,older adults with reduced number of posterior occluding pairs of teeth were more likely to experience unsatisfactoryBMI (OR = 3.61, 95% CI: 1.48, 8.76). This may suggest that functional arrangement of the tooth in the oral cavity is moreimportant than the number of tooth loss alone. Thus, maintaining an optimum number of teeth for chewing is essentialfor maintenance of ideal BMI.

Background: Research has found that social network, social support and religiosity are associated with depression in elderly people. However, these predictors of depression have not been fully explored among the high risk elderly population. This study aims to examine the prevalence and factors associated with depression among Malaysian elderly subjects who had experienced major life events. Methods: This is a cross-section study of a subsample of 594 participants from the original sample of 2322 Malaysian elderly respondents, who had experienced major life events. Information on socio-demographic, social network, social support, religiosity and depression were collected through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with depression among elderly who experienced major life events. Results: Overall prevalence of depression among subsample of Malaysian elderly facing major life events was 9.4%. The results showed that age (p≤0.01), income (p≤0.001) and social network (p≤0.05) were significant associated with depression. In other words, with increasing age, low income as well as small social network associated with high risk of developing depression among elderly who had experienced major life events Conclusion: Other than age and income, social network were also associated with depression among elderly respondents who had experienced major life events. Therefore, professionals who are working with elderly with major life events should seek ways to enhance elderly networking as one of the strategies to prevent depression.

Introduction: A stroke can have devastating consequences and may reduce the Quality of Life (QoL) of stroke survivors. Specific QoL measurement is therefore needed to appreciate and quantify the impact of this condition. The objective of the study is to culturally adapt, translate and validate the Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin and Tamil versions of the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) 3.0 for its application in clinical practice and stroke research in Malaysia. Methods: A total of nine translators translated the SIS 3.0 and five professional experts carried out the linguistic validation of the SIS 3.0 in accordance with the Mapi Research Institute’s linguistic validation guideline. The steps for linguistic validation included forward translation, synthesis, backward translation, clinicians’ review, and cognitive debriefing. Ten to thirteen healthcare practitioners rated the translated versions of SIS 3.0 using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR). Results: During the translation processes, concerns were expressed about various grammatical and semantic issues, such as the appropriateness of some phrases used for the Malaysian demographic. The Scale-CVI average was 0.91 and 0.95 for relevance and clarity respectively which indicated excellent content validity. The CVR values ranged from 0.40 to 1.00. Conclusion: The Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin and Tamil versions of SIS 3.0 was well developed. The translated versions of SIS 3.0 could be adopted in clinical, community and educational settings. Nevertheless, further in-depth psychometric testing including construct validity and reliability on a larger sample among the multi-ethic Malaysians stroke survivors is advised.