Quality of life, related to oral healthcare, in the Elderly Center de San Isidro, Lima

Introduction: Maintaining quality of life is one of the most important results of care services. Several plans support the importance of measuring it in older adults. Objective: To assess oral health-related quality of life in members of a senior center in Lima, Peru. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in a population of 1800 older adults. The sample con-sisted of 184 participants. The oral health impact profile instrument (OHIP14sp) was used to measure quality of life in relation to oral health. Content validity was performed by a group of evaluators and the consistency of the ques-tionnaire was evaluated with Cronbach’s alpha test. The information was summarized in percentages and Fisher’s and chi-square hypothesis tests were used to identify the relationship of quality of life with gender and age, and Poisson regression. Results: The quality of life of older adults was poor in 9.8%, good in 23.4%, and excellent in 66.8%. Women (71%) had a better quality of life than men (58%). It was observed that the younger the age, the better the quality of life. Most of the adults were able to perform their daily activities ex-cept for 7.1%. Oral health did not have a negative impact on the quality of life of older adults in terms of psychological discomfort, functional limitation and handicap, only 61%, 49% and 17%, respectively. Conclusions: The impact on oral health in Lima identified as excellent or regular the quality of life in relation to oral health of older adults attending the San Isidro Senior Cen-ter.