Yoshiko Ishioka

Association of personality traits with oral health-related quality of life independently of objective oral health status: A study of community-dwelling elderly Japanese

OBJECTIVES Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is being increasingly used in epidemiologic studies of dentistry. However, patient-reported OHRQoL does not always coincide with clinical measures. Previous studies have shown a relationship between OHRQoL and personality, but did not concomitantly investigate oral function. We aimed to examine the association among personality traits, oral function, and OHRQoL using a large sample of community-dwelling Japanese elderly. METHODS The participants (n = 938; age, 69-71 years) were drawn from a complete enumeration of an urban area and a rural area of both the Tokyo metropolitan area and Hyogo Prefecture. The self-perceived impact of OHRQoL was measured using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI). The oral status and socioeconomic characteristics were recorded in each participant, and personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) were assessed with the NEO-five-factor inventory. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to examine the relationships between OHRQoL and other factors, with p < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS Neuroticism was negatively associated with the GOHAI score in bivariate analyses (Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rs )= -0.20), whereas extraversion was positively associated (rs = 0.17). In the regression analyses, neuroticism (standardized partial regression coefficient (β) = -0.179) and extraversion (β=0.094) were significantly associated with the GOHAI scores independently of the number of teeth, maximal occlusal force, and financial status. CONCLUSIONS Personality traits are associated with OHRQoL independently of objective measures of oral health status in community-dwelling elderly Japanese. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE This study showed personality traits are associated with OHRQoL independently of dental status and oral function in old Japanese people. As elderly patients undergo increasingly complex dental treatments, there is a need to evaluate patient personality traits prior to dental treatment and predict patient expectations and responses to planned treatment. This is advantageous in determining the most appropriate therapy.

Lower Protein Intake Mediates Association Between Lower Occlusal Force and Slower Walking Speed: From the Septuagenarians, Octogenarians, Nonagenarians Investigation with Centenarians Study.

To investigate the association between lower extremity motor function and occlusion in older adults and to examine the possibility of dietary intake of protein mediating the association.

Examination of Important Life Experiences of the Oldest-Old: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of U.S. and Japanese Centenarians

The purpose of this study was to compare the most important life events reported by U.S. and Japanese centenarians. This study included a population-based sample of 239 U.S. centenarians from the Georgia Centenarian Study and 304 Japanese centenarians from the Tokyo Centenarian Study. Two open-ended life events questions were categorized and grouped into different life event domains. Several cross-tabulations were computed to investigate culture and gender differences in most important life event domains. Next, four configural frequency analyses were conducted using Neuroticism, Extraversion, and the first most often mentioned life event domain for each sample (i.e., marriage and historical life events). Results suggest that events related to marriage were the most frequent important event domains mentioned by U.S. centenarians. The Japanese sample was more likely to report historical events. Men from the U.S. were more likely to report events related to work and retirement compared to U.S. women, and U.S. women reported events related to family as the most important life events when compared to U.S. men. Japanese women considered events related to marriage, death and grief as the most important life events when compared to Japanese men. In addition, Japanese men reported events related to work and retirement as the most important life events. A cross-cultural difference was found in life events: U.S. centenarians were more likely to mention positive experiences related to marriage and children, whereas Japanese centenarians reported mostly negative and traumatic experiences such as historical, death/grief, and work/retirement events.