Social and behavioral correlates of oral quality of life studied among university students in Tanzania

This study applies an abbreviated version of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP) and the Life Satisfaction scale to oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) and quality of life (QOL) among Tanzanian university students. The following questions were addressed: Are social and behavioral status associated with overall OIDP frequency scores? Do social and behavioral variables contribute to the explainable variance of the OIDP frequency scores beyond the effect of clinical indicators of oral disorders? Do OIDP frequency scores influence general QOL as measured by the Life Satisfaction scale? A two-wave cross-sectional study was conducted during the summer of 1999, involving 19-45-year-old students at the University of Dar es Salaam. One-thousand-one-hundred-and-twenty-three students completed self-administered questionnaires and 228 respondents were re-examined clinically after 4 weeks. The rates of tooth decay and tooth loss were 34% and 37%, respectively. Medical-non-medical status (OR = 2.7) self-perceived health status (OR = 2.7), and sugar avoidance (OR = 2.2) varied systematically with OIDP scores in multivariate analyses. Tooth decay and tooth loss alone contributed 10% to the explainable variance in the OIDP scores. Entering social and behavioral variables increased the explainable variance to 19%. Finally, life-satisfaction scores varied systematically and positively with the OIDP frequency scores in bi- and multivariate analyses. This study gives some indications that the social and behavioral contexts of Tanzanian university students are important in shaping their responses to oral disorders.