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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Rachel Kimble, Professor John Mathers, Professor Sheena Ramsay
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2022 The Authors. Objective: To investigate the prospective associations between oral health and progression of physical frailty in older adults. Design: Prospective analysis. Setting and Participants: Data are from the British Regional Heart Study (BRHS) comprising 2137 men aged 71 to 92 years from 24 British towns and the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (HABC) Study of 3075 men and women aged 70 to 79 years. Methods: Oral health markers included denture use, tooth count, periodontal disease, self-rated oral health, dry mouth, and perceived difficulty eating. Physical frailty progression after ∼8 years follow-up was determined based on 2 scoring tools: the Fried frailty phenotype (for physical frailty) and the Gill index (for severe frailty). Logistic regression models were conducted to examine the associations between oral health markers and progression to frailty and severe frailty, adjusted for sociodemographic, behavioral, and health-related factors. Results: After full adjustment, progression to frailty was associated with dentition [per each additional tooth, odds ratio (OR) 0.97; 95% CI: 0.95–1.00], <21 teeth with (OR 1.74; 95% CI: 1.02–2.96) or without denture use (OR 2.45; 95% CI 1.15–5.21), and symptoms of dry mouth (OR ≥1.8; 95% CI ≥ 1.06–3.10) in the BRHS cohort. In the HABC Study, progression to frailty was associated with dry mouth (OR 2.62; 95% CI 1.05–6.55), self-reported difficulty eating (OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.28–3.50) and ≥2 cumulative oral health problems (OR 2.29; 95% CI 1.17–4.50). Progression to severe frailty was associated with edentulism (OR 4.44; 95% CI 1.39–14.15) and <21 teeth without dentures after full adjustment. Conclusions and Implications: These findings indicate that oral health problems, particularly tooth loss and dry mouth, in older adults are associated with progression to frailty in later life. Additional research is needed to determine if interventions aimed at maintaining (or improving) oral health can contribute to reducing the risk, and worsening, of physical frailty in older adults.
Author(s): Kimble R, Papacosta AO, Lennon LT, Whincup PH, Weyant RJ, Mathers JC, Wannamethee SG, Ramsay SE
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
Year: 2023
Volume: 24
Issue: 4
Pages: 468-474.e3
Print publication date: 01/04/2023
Online publication date: 28/12/2022
Acceptance date: 02/04/2018
Date deposited: 22/02/2023
ISSN (print): 1525-8610
ISSN (electronic): 1538-9375
Publisher: Elsevier Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2022.11.022
DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2022.11.022
PubMed id: 36584971
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