Prevalence of Self-Assessed Masticatory Disorders in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND

Aging leads to changes that affect the functionality of the stomatognathic system, which can result in masticatory disorders. The loss or reduction in masticatory efficiency is often reported as one of the main complaints among healthy older adults. Due to variability and imprecision in prevalence estimates, there is a gap in specific knowledge about the true severity of masticatory issues in this population.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence of masticatory disorders in community-dwelling older adults.

METHODS

The prevalence of self-assessed masticatory disorders in community-dwelling older adults was investigated. A search was conducted in the electronic databases Cinahl, Embase, Lilacs, Livivo, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, OpenGrey and Proquest. The search strategy was adapted for each database using specific terms and keywords. Population-based cross-sectional/ecological studies that used questionnaires to identify masticatory disorders in individuals aged 60 years or older, living in the community were included. Of the 7008 articles identified in the databases and grey literature, 22 articles were included for data extraction and analysis.

RESULTS

High heterogeneity was observed among the prevalence estimates (I = 100%) for the different studies included in the analysis, which was not explained by the mean age of the study population or sample size when evaluated using a meta-regression model (p < 0.05). The pooled prevalence of masticatory disorders was 36% (95% CI = 0.28-0.43; I = 100%), with individual study estimates ranging from 4.3% to 61.7%.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of self-assessed masticatory disorders in community-dwelling older adults is approximately 36%.