Oral Health as a Predictor of Physical Frailty among Rural Community-Dwelling Elderly in an Agricultural County of Taiwan: A Cross-Sectional Study

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 18; no. 18; p. 9805
• Main Authors: Kuo, Ya-Wen, Chen, Mei-Yen, Chang, Li-Ching, Lee, Jiann-Der
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 17.09.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Biomedical materials; Body mass index; Chronic illnesses; Cognitive ability; Confidence intervals; Cross-sectional studies; Dentures; Dietary restrictions; Disease; Frailty; Older people; Oral hygiene; Osteoporosis; Physiology; Population; Questionnaires; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Rural areas; Rural communities; Saliva; Teeth; Tongue; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18189805

We conducted a cross-sectional study to clarify the relationship between oral health and physical frailty (PF). A sample of 903 community-dwelling individuals aged ≥ 65 years were enrolled from random communities in Chiayi County. The self-perceived oral health (SPOH) and oral health assessment tool (OHAT), which consists of eight items, was used for the evaluation of their oral health status. PF was assessed based on the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture index. Overall, 14.6% of the participants had PF. In an adjusted model, restricted food types (odds ratio (OR) = 1.59, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–2.09, p = 0.001), self-reported dental status (OR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.2–2.15, p = 0.001), number of teeth (OR = 0.98, 95% CI: 0.96–0.99, p = 0.006), frequency of tooth cleaning (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.68–1.0, p = 0.049), OHAT score (OR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.02–1.17, p < 0.017), and saliva items of OHAT (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.11–2.1, p = 0.010) were significantly associated with PF. SPOH is a crucial indicator of PF; longitudinal analyses are necessary to understand the underlying pathway of risk factors for frailty onset.