Specialist in Oral Medicine, Dentistry degree, Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Instituto de Investigación e Innovación en Salud Integral, Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
BMC Oral Health. 2023 Mar 10;23(1):140. doi: 10.1186/s12903-023-02824-3.
Previous studies have indicated an association between oral hypofunction and frailty in community-dwelling older adults. However, this issue has not been evaluated in institutionalized older patients. We aimed to determine the prevalence of physical frailty in this particularly vulnerable group and evaluate its association with oral hypofunction, analyzing possible differences by gender.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in private and public care homes in Guayaquil (Ecuador) from January 2018 until December 2019. Participants were classified as robust, pre-frail, and frail according to the Fried's frailty phenotype. Oral hypofunction was defined as the presence of at least three positive items in the following list: poor oral hygiene, oral dryness, reduced occlusal force, decreased masticatory function, and deterioration of swallowing function. The relationships between frailty and oral hypofunction were analyzed using logistic regression models for the whole sample and stratified by gender. Statistical analyses were performed using STATA 15.0 software (Stata Corp. LP, College Station, TX, USA).
Among the 589 participants analyzed (65% women), the median age was 72 years (interquartile range: 66-82). Pre-frailty and frailty were presented in 66.7% and 28.9% of them respectively. Weakness was the most frequent item (84.6%). There was a significant relationship between frailty and oral hypofunction in women. In the overall sample, the frequency of frailty was 2.06 times higher (95% CI 1.30-3.29) in patients with oral hypofunction, and this association was maintained in women (ORa: 2.18; 95% CI 1.21-3.94). Reduced occlusal force and decreased swallowing function were items significantly associated with the presence of frailty (ORa: 1.95; 95% CI 1.18-3.22 and ORa: 2.11; 95% CI 1.39-3.19, respectively).
The prevalence of frailty and pre-frailty was high among institutionalized older people and was associated with the presence of hypofunction, especially in women. Decreased swallowing function was the most strongly item associated with frailty.
先前的研究表明，社区居住的老年人中存在口腔功能低下与虚弱之间的关联。然而，这一问题尚未在机构化的老年患者中得到评估。我们旨在确定这一特别脆弱群体中身体虚弱的患病率，并评估其与口腔功能低下的关系，同时分析性别差异。
这项横断面研究于 2018 年 1 月至 2019 年 12 月在厄瓜多尔瓜亚基尔的私人和公共养老院进行。参与者根据 Fried 衰弱表型分为稳健、衰弱前期和衰弱。口腔功能低下定义为在以下列表中至少有三项阳性项目：口腔卫生差、口腔干燥、咬合力量减弱、咀嚼功能减退和吞咽功能恶化。使用逻辑回归模型对整个样本和按性别分层的衰弱和口腔功能低下之间的关系进行分析。统计分析使用 STATA 15.0 软件（StataCorpLP，德克萨斯州学院站）进行。
在分析的 589 名参与者中（65%为女性），中位年龄为 72 岁（四分位距：66-82）。衰弱前期和衰弱分别占 66.7%和 28.9%。无力是最常见的项目（84.6%）。女性中衰弱与口腔功能低下之间存在显著关系。在总体样本中，口腔功能低下患者的衰弱发生率高 2.06 倍（95%CI：1.30-3.29），且这一关联在女性中仍然存在（ORa：2.18；95%CI：1.21-3.94）。咬合力量减弱和吞咽功能减退是与衰弱存在显著相关的项目（ORa：1.95；95%CI：1.18-3.22 和 ORa：2.11；95%CI：1.39-3.19）。
机构化老年人中衰弱前期和衰弱的患病率较高，且与口腔功能低下有关，特别是在女性中。吞咽功能减退是与衰弱关系最密切的项目。
