Prevalence of oral mucosal lesions in an elderly population in the city of Valparaiso, Chile

Abstract

Objective: Chilean population is ageing, which means an increase in the prevalence of multiple pathologies, including those located in the oral cavity.

Aim: To measure the prevalence and distribution of oral mucosal lesions and to identify associated risk factors in elderly patients in the city of Valparaiso.

Material and methods: This study includes 126 patients over 60 years. The sample was calculated with a sampling error of 3.7% from a population size of 6000 file cards. Frequency and contingency tables were made together with odds ratios, with a confidence interval of 95%. Finally, we built a predictive model based on a binary logistic regression.

Results: From the whole sample, 85 patients (67.5%) had some oral mucosal lesion. The most frequent lesions were denture-induced stomatitis (37.1%). It was noted that there is a statistically significant association between the use of denture and the presence of oral candidiasis. The consumption of drugs and the use of denture increase the likelihood of having oral mucosal lesions.

Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of oral lesions in the elderly patients of Valparaiso. The use of drugs and /or denture increases significantly the likelihood that a person over 60 years presents lesions in the oral mucosa.

Keywords: denture-induced stomatitis; elderly patients; oral mucosal lesions.