Hospital admissions of Brazilian older adults due to oral health problems: A trend analysis

Background. There is a bidirectional relationship between oral health and general health, i.e., poor oral health increases the risk of general health problems and poor general health increases the risk of oral health problems. Objectives. To analyze hospital admissions of older people due to complications of orofacial diseases. Design. Quantitative ecological study. Setting. Public and private hospitals operating within Brazil's Unified Health System. Participants. People aged 60+ years hospitalized due to oral health-related problems from 2008 to 2017. Methods. Prevalence of hospital admissions was estimated based on the number of admissions due to oral diseases in each Brazilian region divided by the number of in habitants. Joinpoint regression analysis was performed to evaluate the trend of each segment of the variables using the Joinpoint Regression Program software, version 4.6.0.0.Annual percent change (APC), average annual percent change (AAPC) and confidence interval (CI) were calculated at a confidence level of 95%. Results. There was a trend towards the growth in hospital admissions in all Brazilian regions throughout the years. Most hospital admissions were among male older people aged 70-79 years and the main cause of hospitalization was lip, oral cavity and pharynx malignant tumor. The South region presented the highest prevalence of hospital admissions due to oral cancers and the North region exhibited the highest number of hospital admissions due to dental caries and other oral heatlth conditions. Conclusion. The growth in hospital admissions of older adults due to oral health problems suggests failures in the provision of health promotion and disease prevention actions.