Impact of oral health care needs on health-related quality of life in adult HIV+ patients.

The aim of this work was to determine the social impact of oral conditions on health-related quality of life in adult HIV+ patients and create a predictive model. The oral health impact profile questionnaire OHIP-49 was randomly administered to 200 HIV+ adults patients of any age and either sex at the High Risk Patients Dental Care Unit (CLAPAR I), School of Dentistry, University of Buenos Aires. Argentina. For each of the 49 items, participants indicated their responses on a five point Likert-type frequency scale ranging from "never" to "very often". Oral health needs were assessed through the CCITN (Community Caries Index of Treatment Need) and CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Need). The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the OHIP-49 score between male and female respondents. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to assess score differences among the OHIP-49 domains. Altogether, 50% of the respondents were male and 50% were female, aged 36.45 +/- 0.70 years and 38.03 +/- 0.78 years respectively. The assessment of oral health care needs revealed a great need for treatment. Mean CCITN was 11.15 +/- 0.35 and CPITN was 2.41 +/- 0.12. The average total OHIP-49 score (83) revealed a high level of social impact, which was higher for female compared to male respondents (Z(T) = 2.08, p = 0.037). The domains concerning functional limitation (domain 1), physical pain (domain 2) and psychological discomfort (domain 3) showed higher levels of social impact (H = 395.06, p < 0.0001). The social impact observed in these domains was higher for female compared to male patients. In the correlation analysis, oral conditions, age, gender and social impact were significantly associated. These results demonstrate that unmet oral health care need impairs the quality of life of HIV+ patients and suggest the need of comprehensive oral health care interventions.