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. 2020;24(9):1003-1010.
doi: 10.1007/s12603-020-1433-1.

Association between Oral Frailty and Nutritional Status among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: the Takashimadaira Study

M Iwasaki  1 , K Motokawa, Y Watanabe, M Shirobe, H Inagaki, A Edahiro, Y Ohara, H Hirano, S Shinkai, S Awata
Affiliations

Association between Oral Frailty and Nutritional Status among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: the Takashimadaira Study

M Iwasaki et al. J Nutr Health Aging. 2020.

Abstract

Objectives: Recently, the concept of oral frailty, defined as accumulated deficits in oral health, has been introduced in Japan. However, data about its association with nutritional status are limited. Thus, this cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the association between oral frailty and malnutrition among community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Community.

Participants: One thousand and fifty-four individuals (428 men and 626 women, mean age: 77.0 years) from the Takashimadaira Study.

Measurements: Based on a multifaceted oral health assessment, oral frailty was defined as greater than or equal to three of the following components: (1) low number of remaining teeth, (2) decreased masticatory performance, (3) reduced articulatory oral motor skill, (4) low tongue pressure, and difficulties in (5) eating and (6) swallowing. The nutritional status was evaluated using the Mini Nutritional Assessment®-Short Form (MNA®-SF) and serum albumin. An ordinal logistic regression model was used to evaluate the association between oral frailty and nutritional status.

Results: Oral frailty was observed in 217 (20.4%) participants. After adjusting for potential confounders, the participants with oral frailty had higher odds of more severe malnutrition evaluated using MNA®-SF (adjusted odds ratio: 2.17; 95% confidence interval: 1.58-2.98) and serum albumin level (adjusted odds ratio: 1.59; 95% confidence interval: 1.10-2.31).

Conclusion: Oral frailty was associated with nutritional status among Japanese older adults. Maintaining comprehensive oral health and function may be effective for malnutrition prevention in community-dwelling older adults. However, further studies must be conducted to validate the generalizability of the results of the current study.

Keywords: Cross-sectional study; geriatrics; nutritional status; oral health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest with respect to this research study and paper. This work was supported by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, ARKRAY, Inc., and a Research Funding for Longevity Sciences (19-42) from the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology. We received grants from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development [Grant Numbers: JP18dk0110019h0003 and JP18dk0110018h0003], the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan [Grant Number: H27-Choju-Ippan-005], and JSPS KAKENHI [Grant Numbers: 16K11908, 17H02187, 17K13239, 18K09874, and 18K09919].

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