Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2024 Mar 21;24(1):368.
doi: 10.1186/s12903-024-04149-1.

Epidemiology and risk factors of oral frailty among older people: an observational study from China

Yueheng Yin #  1 , Yue Zhao #  1 , Yang Fei  1 , Ying Liu  1 , Yun Ji  2 , Enfang Shan  1 , Shuzhen Niu  1 , Ying Xing  1 , Jingjing Ding  3 , XianWen Li  4
Affiliations
Observational Study

Epidemiology and risk factors of oral frailty among older people: an observational study from China

Yueheng Yin et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the prevalence of oral frailty among community-dwelling older people in Nanjing, China with the usage of different measurements, and to investigate the potential risk factors of oral frailty.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting and participants: A total of 338 community-dwelling older people in Nanjing, China were recruited.

Methods: Oral frailty was measured based on the Oral Frailty Index-8 (OFI-8) scale and other measurement methods including the number of natural teeth (TN), repetitive saliva-swallowing test (RSST), and oral diadochokinesis (ODK). The chi-square test and the binary logistic regression analysis were performed to identify potential risk factors for oral frailty.

Results: There were 310 participants included in the analysis. Prevalence of oral frailty by using the OFI-8, OFI-8 + TN, OFI-8 + ODK, OFI-8 + TN + ODK and RSST measurement methods were 69.0%, 27.4%, 51.9%, 21.0% and 2.9%, respectively. Passive smoking (OR = 2.04; 95%CI 1.03-4.03), being widowed/unmarried (OR1 = 2.53; 95%CI 1.25-5.10; OR2 = 2.94; 95%CI 1.12-7.77), pre-frailty (OR = 1.76; 95%CI 1.03-3.01), frailty (OR = 3.01; 95%CI 1.39-6.54), and aged 80 years and above (OR = 3.99; 95%CI 1.35-11.81) were found to be risk factors of oral frailty by the usage of the four kinds of measurement methods.

Conclusions and implications: The definition and diagnostic criteria of oral frailty are strongly needed to be unified in future research. Only subjective assessment is not enough for assessing oral frailty. Among objective indicators, RSST is not suitable as a screening method for oral frailty. In addition, objective indicators including TN and ODK should be valued for early screening and preventive interventions. The risk factors of oral frailty include physical frailty, passive smoking, and being widowed.

Keywords: Measurement method; Oral frailty; Prevalence; Risk factor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Tanaka T, Takahashi K, Hirano H, Kikutani T, Watanabe Y, Ohara Y, et al. Oral Frailty as a risk factor for physical Frailty and Mortality in Community-Dwelling Elderly. J Gerontol Biol Sci Med Sci. 2018;73(12):1661–7. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glx225. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dibello V, Zupo R, Sardone R, Lozupone M, Castellana F, Dibello A, et al. Oral frailty and its determinants in older age: a systematic review. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2021;2(8):e507–20. doi: 10.1016/s2666-7568(21)00143-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Iwasaki M, Motokawa K, Watanabe Y, Shirobe M, Inagaki H, Edahiro A, et al. A two-year longitudinal study of the Association between oral Frailty and deteriorating Nutritional Status among Community-Dwelling older adults. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;18(1). 10.3390/ijerph18010213. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parisius KGH, Wartewig E, Schoonmade LJ, Aarab G, Gobbens R, Lobbezoo F. Oral frailty dissected and conceptualized: a scoping review. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2022;100:104653. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2022.104653. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hakeem FF, Bernabé E, Sabbah W. Association between oral health and frailty: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Gerodontology. 2019;36(3):205–15. doi: 10.1111/ger.12406. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Substances