Department of Radiation Epidemiology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan.
Tohoku J Exp Med. 2009 Dec;219(4):263-7. doi: 10.1620/tjem.219.263.
Oral dryness is common among aging individuals and its objective evaluation is an important issue for improving their oral health. In the present study, we measured the objective mucosal moisture in elderly individuals with a moisture checker and evaluated its relation with laboratory findings and subjective oral status. The subjects were 502 adults (244 men and 258 women), with a mean age of 72.3 +/- 6.7 years, who participated in a regular medical screening program in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. We evaluated the moisture of the oral mucosa by measuring the weight percentage of water content in the oral epithelium, subjective oral dryness, self-assessed chewing ability ["good" ("able to chew all foods") or "poor" ("able to chew soft foods only" and "unable to chew any foods")], and laboratory findings. The values obtained with a moisture checker, which represent objective oral mucosal moisture, were significantly lower in women with poor chewing ability than those with good chewing ability (28.2 +/- 2.4% vs. 29.2 +/- 2.0%, p = 0.004) and in all subjects (28.4 +/- 2.4% vs. 29.1 +/- 2.0%, p = 0.004), but not in men (28.6 +/- 2.5% vs. 29.0 +/- 2.0%, p = 0.27). When multiple logistic regression analysis was performed on confounding factors, older age (OR: 1.24, p = 0.015), women (OR: 1.70, p = 0.016), and anemia (OR: 1.96, p = 0.030) were significantly associated with self-assessed chewing ability. Our current study indicates that poor chewing ability is associated with lower mucosal moisture in elderly individuals.
口干症在老年人中较为常见，其客观评估对于改善老年人的口腔健康状况十分重要。本研究使用湿度检测仪测量了老年人的口腔黏膜湿度，并评估了其与实验室检查结果和主观口腔状况的关系。研究对象为日本长崎县参加常规医疗筛查项目的 502 名成年人（男 244 名，女 258 名），平均年龄为 72.3±6.7 岁。我们通过测量口腔上皮组织中水分的重量百分比来评估口腔黏膜的湿度，同时评估主观口腔干燥程度、自我评估的咀嚼能力（“好”（能够咀嚼所有食物）或“差”（仅能咀嚼软食，或无法咀嚼任何食物））以及实验室检查结果。湿度检测仪测量的结果代表了客观的口腔黏膜湿度，在咀嚼能力差的女性中，其值明显低于咀嚼能力好的女性（28.2±2.4%比 29.2±2.0%，p=0.004）和所有受试者（28.2±2.4%比 29.1±2.0%，p=0.004），但在男性中无明显差异（28.6±2.5%比 29.0±2.0%，p=0.27）。当对混杂因素进行多元逻辑回归分析时，年龄较大（OR：1.24，p=0.015）、女性（OR：1.70，p=0.016）和贫血（OR：1.96，p=0.030）与自我评估的咀嚼能力显著相关。本研究表明，咀嚼能力差与老年人的口腔黏膜湿度较低有关。
