노인의 사회적 참여 수준이 구강건강에 미치는 영향

The Impact of Social Participation Level on Oral Health among Older Adults

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing the level of social participation among Korean older adults using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). Methods: We analysed 6,057 adults aged 65 and older from the panel data. Hierarchical regression analysis examined socio-demographic factors (age, education, income), health-related factors (physical function (ADL, IADL), subjective health status, number of teeth), and social network factors (social network index, social network centrality). Results: Social network factors demonstrated substantial independent effects beyond existing variables. Network analysis revealed that participants with low centrality (Group 1: β=1.203, p=0.005), moderate centrality (Group 2: β=1.452, p<0.001), and high centrality (Group 3: β=3.251, p<0.001) showed progressively superior oral health-related quality of life compared to the socially isolated reference group. Conclusions: Social networks serve as independent determinants of oral health-related quality of life among older adults. These findings highlight the need to develop future oral health policies and interventions that adopt comprehensive, multidimensional approaches addressing both physical- economic risk factors and strategies to mitigate social isolation.