Oral health status in older adults with social security in Mexico City: Latent class analysis

Objective: To explore the oral health status through a latent class analysis in elderly social security beneficiaries from Southwest Mexico City. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study of beneficiaries of the State Employee Social Security and Social Services Institute (ISSSTE, in Spanish) and the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS, in Spanish) aged 60 years or older. Oral health conditions such as edentulism, coronal and root caries (DMFT and DFT ≥ 75 percentile), clinical attachment loss (≥ 4 mm), and healthy teeth (≤ 25 percentile) were determined. A latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to classify the oral health status of dentate patients. Results: In total, 336 patients were included (47.9% from the ISSSTE and 52.1% from the IMSS), with an average age of 74.4 (SD = 7.1) years. The 75th percentile of the DMFT = 23 and of the DFT = 2. Of the patients, 77.9% had periodontal disease. The 25th percentile of healthy teeth = 4. A three class model is adequate, with a high classification quality (Entropy = 0.915). The patients were classified as “Edentulous” (15.2%), “Class 1 = Unfavorable” (13.7%), “Class 2 = Somewhat favorable” (10.4%), and “Class 3 = Favorable” (60.7%). Using “Class 3 = Favorable” as a reference, there was an association (OR = 3.4; 95% CI = 1.8-6.4) between being edentulous and being 75 years of age and over, compared with the 60- to 74-year age group. Conclusion: The oral health in elderly social security beneficiaries is not optimal. The probability of becoming edentulous increases with age. A three-class model appropriately classifies the oral health dimensions in the elderly population. Key words:Elderly, Latent class analysis (LCA), oral health, social security, Mexico.