Oral health and depressive symptoms: findings from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Aim We assessed the cross-sectional association between depressive symptoms and oral health using a nationally representative sample of older adults aged 50 years and older living in

England.

Methods Data came from wave 7 (2014-2015) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between depressive

symptoms, measured through the eight-item Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and three oral health outcomes, namely self-rated oral health, edentulousness and oral impacts.

Results The analytical sample comprised 3,617 individuals. The proportion of participants that reported poor self-rated oral health, being edentate and having at least one oral health impact

in the last six months was 19.8%, 7.7% and 8.9%, respectively. Around a tenth of the participants reported having depressive symptoms (10%). All unadjusted associations between depressive

symptoms and the oral health measures were statistically significant. However, after accounting for potential confounders, only the relationship between depressive symptoms and self-rated

oral health remained significant (OR = 1.38; 95% CI 1.01-1.89). Socioeconomic and general health-related variables appeared to influence the associations between depressive symptoms and oral

health, particularly edentulousness and oral impacts.

Conclusion Depressive symptoms were associated with poor self-rated oral health in older English adults.

Highlights the existing evidence of the relationship between depressive symptoms and oral health measures among older adult populations.

Using a nationally representative sample of English adults, this study found a significant association between depressive symptoms and self-rated oral health, even after accounting for a

number of key potential factors.

Emphasises the need for better integration of oral health into primary care, as well as the need to tackle the broader sociodemographic determinants of (oral) health.

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