Comparison of Tongue and Lip Motor Function in Older Patients before and after the Spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019（COVID-19）

• Published in: Ronen Shika Igaku Vol. 36; no. 4; pp. 322 - 325
• Main Authors: Uchida, Yoshiki, Shichita, Toshiharu, Hatanaka, Yukiko, Sato, Yuji, Furuya, Junichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Society of Gerodontology 31.03.2022; 一般社団法人 日本老年歯科医学会
• Subjects: coronavirus disease 2019（COVID-19）; older; tongue and lip motor function; 新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）; 舌口唇運動機能; 高齢者
• ISSN: 0914-3866; 1884-7323
• DOI: 10.11259/jsg.36.4_322

Objective：Due to the spread of the coronavirus disease of 2019（COVID-19）, people are forced to live self-restrained lives, and communication is impaired. Therefore, we investigated differences in the tongue and lip motor function（articulation）in patients who visited our department before and after the spread of COVID-19.　Subjects and Methods：We included 146 and 50 patients from among those who visited our department before（April 1, 2019-March 31, 2020）and after（July 1, 2020-August 31, 2021）the spread of COVID-19, respectively. The “10 pataka” method was used to evaluate tongue and lip motor dysfunction.　Results：No difference between genders was observed；however, after the spread of COVID-19, the value of the “10 pataka” method significantly increased. Although there was no difference in patients aged ＜80 years, the value was approximately 0.8 s longer in patients aged ≥80 years.　Conclusions：Our findings suggest that the tongue and lip motor function, evaluated using the “10 pataka” method, may be impaired in patients aged ≥80 years after the spread of COVID-19.