Edentulism risk indicators among Mexican elders 60-year-old and older

"ABSTRACT.The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of edentulism in Mexican elders aged 60years and older, and the associated risk indicators. A cross-sectional study was undertaken in 139 eldersliving in either of two long-term care (LTC) facilities, or attending an adult day center (ADC) in Pachuca,Mexico. A subject was edentulous when natural teeth were completely absent, determined through aclinical examination. Risk indicators were collected using questionnaires. Analyses were performedusing binary logistic regression in STATA 9.0. Mean age was 79.0 9.8 years. Many subjects were women(69.1%). The prevalence of edentulism was 36.7%. In multivariate analysis, after adjusting for age and sex, thevariables that were inversely associated (p < 0.05) with edentulism were living with a spouse (oddsratio = OR = 0.31), and lacking health insurance (OR = 0.70). Variables associated with higher risk of beingedentate were lower educational attainment (OR = 1.61), having received radiation therapy (OR = 4.49),being a smoker (OR = 4.82), and having diabetes (OR = 2.94) or other chronic illnesses (OR = 1.82) (withhypertension approaching significance, p = 0.067). In this sample of Mexican elders, diverse variables wereassociated with edentulism, in particular smoking and past radiotherapy. Oral health programs within andoutside LTC/ADC should take into account risk factors specific to the older population."