Rural-urban disparities in Oral Health-related Quality of Life for middle-aged and older adults with diabetes in Taiwan

BACKGROUND: Public health faces a significant challenge in reducing rural–urban disparities in diabetes. Since dietary control is part of the medical regimen for diabetes management, how diabetic patients perceive the impact of oral health on their quality of life is critical. The present study aimed to compare the Oral Health-related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) between rural and urban diabetic patients. METHODS: The study design was cross-sectional. The study sample included 831 self-reported diabetic patients, extracted from the first wave of the new-cohort Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging survey (NC_TLSA) that comprised a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling adults aged 50 and above in Taiwan. The composite score generated from the Oral Health Impact Profile-7 (OHIP-7), which has seven questions, was used to construct two OHRQoL measures, the severity of perceived poor OHRQoL and the prevalence of poor OHRQoL. These two OHRQoL measures were treated as dichotomous variables. Multivariate logistic regression models were applied for analysis. RESULTS: Rural diabetic patients had a higher likelihood of experiencing the severity of perceived poor OHRQoL than those in urban areas (OR = 2.40, 95% CI: 1.30–4.40). Although rural diabetic patients also had a higher prevalence of poor OHRQoL than urban diabetic patients, the difference was not significant (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 0.95–2.28). Social determinants, such as education, are essential factors attributed to both OHRQoL measures. CONCLUSION: Overall, rural diabetes community-dwelling patients had a poorer OHRQoL than those in urban areas. Given a bidirectional relationship between oral health and diabetes, improving oral health in rural areas may be a critical avenue to improve the quality of diabetes care in rural areas.