We propose to investigate the influence that oral health has on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL), nutritional status, and life-space mobility among low socioeconomic status (SES) rural adults. We have a rare opportunity to build upon an ongoing study of predictors of life-space change funded by NIA, called the UAB Study on Aging (SOA). The proposed pilot study will initiate a potentially exciting collaboration between two groups of investigators who until now have conducted independent, but related, lines of research. SOA investigators, who have recently identified links between oral health, nutrition, and life-space change, and School of Dentistry investigators, whose research has investigated links between oral health and OHRQOL, will collaborate to build upon the knowledge gained from both lines of research. This research would provide pilot data for a subsequent R01 application that would test six key hypotheses about oral health, OHRQOL, nutritional status and nutritional risk, and change in life-space mobility, with other key predictors taken into account. The SOA is a prospective, observational cohort study of 1,000 community-dwelling adults 65 years old or older. Recruitment was based on a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries residing in five central Alabama counties, stratified by race, sex, and urban/rural area of residence. In-home assessments of hypothesized predictors of life-space mobility change were conducted in 1999-2001. Follow-up telephone interviews have been conducted every six months since. For the proposed pilot study, clinical oral examinations and oral health interview questions will be added to symbiotically complement a rich set of measures already made or planned. Funding this pilot study would allow us to conduct a preliminary study, confirm the feasibility of adding oral health components to this particular cohort of older adults, to preliminarily test hypotheses, and to estimate sample size requirements. This will provide a sound scientific foundation for an R01 proposal to investigate a potentially causative pathway between oral health, OHRQOL, nutrition, and life-space mobility, with a special interest in a potentially highly vulnerable population: low-SES rural adults.
| Makhija, Sonia K; Gilbert, Gregg H; Clay, Olivio J et al. (2011) Oral health-related quality of life and life-space mobility in community-dwelling older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 59:512-8 |
| Makhija, Sonia K; Gilbert, Gregg H; Litaker, Mark S et al. (2007) Association between aspects of oral health-related quality of life and body mass index in community-dwelling older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 55:1808-16 |
| Makhija, Sonia K; Gilbert, Gregg H; Boykin, Michael J et al. (2006) The relationship between sociodemographic factors and oral health-related quality of life in dentate and edentulous community-dwelling older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 54:1701-12 |
