Association between underweight and overweight/obesity with oral health among independently living Brazilian elderly.

OBJECTIVE

Poor oral status, represented by partial/complete tooth loss, may lead to changes in food choice, which may ultimately lead to underweight, overweight, or obesity. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether poor oral status is associated with underweight or overweight/obesity, regardless of physical activity.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study is part of a major project, The Frailty in Brazilian Elderly Study, carried out in Campinas, Brazil (2008-2009). The sample was composed of 900 independent-living older adults. Complete data were available for 875 individuals including sociodemographic, self-reported amount of medications used and eating difficulty questionnaire, smoking habit, depressive symptoms, physical activity, oral examination, and anthropometric assessments according to the WHO criteria. Body mass index was used as an outcome. Multinomial logistic regression was adjusted for confounding variables.

RESULTS

The mean age of the sample was 72.7 y (± 5.81) and the prevalence of edentulism was 47.7%. Edentate individuals not wearing dentures were more likely to be underweight [odds ratio (OR) = 3.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14-13.64] and overweight/obese (OR = 2.88, 95%CI 1.12-7.40). Males (OR = 0.56, 95%CI 0.36-0.85) and those not using medications (OR = 0.41 95%CI 0.24-0.70) were less likely to be overweight/obese. Individuals who smoke (OR = 2.62, 95%CI 1.26-5.44) were more likely to be underweight. Older individuals with family income between 3.1 and 5 minimum wage (OR = 1.69, 95%CI 1.00-2.87) were more likely to be overweight/obese.

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies associating poor oral health, represented by edentulism not rehabilitated with dentures, with unfavorable body mass, regardless of the two major confounders, physical activity and depression symptoms.