Background: Older adults may experience reduced manual dexterity, due to age-related physical or neurological conditions, which may affect their ability to practice optimal oral hygiene. Hence, they may present with poor oral hygiene status, which has been associated with adverse systemic health outcome. Therefore, this study aims to assess the oral hygiene status and periodontal health status of older adults attending the Cardiology clinic, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among older adults at the Cardiology clinic, UPTH. Data was collected using interviewer questionnaire. Simplified Oral Hygiene Index was used to assess oral hygiene status, while Community Periodontal Index (CPI) modified, was used to assess periodontal health status. Collected data was analysed using the Statistical Product and Service Solution SPSS version 25.0. P values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: One hundred and six participants; 50.9% (54/106) females, and 49.1% (52/106) males were present. The mean simplified Oral hygiene index (OHI-S) score of the participants was 2.32±1.02. Females had mean OHI-S of 2.09 ± 0.93, with more females 13 (72.2%) presenting with OHIS score of 1.3 - 3.0. Males had mean OHI-S score of 2.55 ±1.07, with more males, 16 (72.7%) having OHIS score of 3.0 - 6.0; this finding was statistically significant (p = 0.016). Most of the participants, 66 (62.3%), had mean OHI-S score of 2.19 ± 0.49. Most of the participants, 76 (71.7%) had CPI 2. Majority 85 (80.2%), had gingivitis, while 21 (19.8%) had periodontitis. Conclusion: Most participants had fair oral hygiene status. More Females presented with good oral hygiene status, while most males presented with poor oral hygiene status. Most participants had CPI 2.
Alade et al. (Thu,) studied this question.