IADR Abstract Archives
Association Between Oral Health and Frailty Among American Adults
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association between Frailty Index (FI), and objective and subjective indicators of oral health, namely number of teeth and self-reported oral health.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized Americans (2011-2012 and 2013-2014). A total of 2368 participants aged 60 years and older who had a complete oral health exam, and had no missing data were included. Number of teeth was used as a continuous variable. Self-rated oral health was obtained by answers to ‘’Rate the health of your teeth and gums’’
The FI was computed from 49 components including symptoms, signs, disabilities and diseases. Sociodemographic factors, education, poverty income ratio, and smoking were included as covariates. Linear Regression models were constructed to test the association between FI and each of number of teeth and self-rated oral health.
Results: Among the 2368 participants, 1036 (34.8%) were frail. Frail participants were older had lower education and lower income than non-frail ones. In the unadjusted model, Participants with greater number of teeth had lower score for FI with regression coefficient -0.29 (95% CI -0.35, -0.24, P <0.001). After adjusting for socioeconomic factors and smoking the coefficient attenuated to -0.18 (95% CI -0.25, -0.10, P <0.001). Similar results were observed with self-reported oral health, where those reporting poor or fair oral heath had unadjusted coefficient of 6.08 (95% CI 5.19, 8.24, P <0.001) compared to participants with excellent, very good or good oral health. In the adjusted model the coefficient attenuated to 4.77 (95% CI 3.32, 6.23, P <0.001).
Conclusions: Higher frailty score was associated with poorer oral health indicated by number of teeth and self-reported oral health. The study highlights the importance of maintaining oral health in older age and incorporating objective and subjective indicators of oral health in routine geriatric assessments and health surveys
Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a cross-sectional nationally representative survey of non-institutionalized Americans (2011-2012 and 2013-2014). A total of 2368 participants aged 60 years and older who had a complete oral health exam, and had no missing data were included. Number of teeth was used as a continuous variable. Self-rated oral health was obtained by answers to ‘’Rate the health of your teeth and gums’’
The FI was computed from 49 components including symptoms, signs, disabilities and diseases. Sociodemographic factors, education, poverty income ratio, and smoking were included as covariates. Linear Regression models were constructed to test the association between FI and each of number of teeth and self-rated oral health.
Results: Among the 2368 participants, 1036 (34.8%) were frail. Frail participants were older had lower education and lower income than non-frail ones. In the unadjusted model, Participants with greater number of teeth had lower score for FI with regression coefficient -0.29 (95% CI -0.35, -0.24, P <0.001). After adjusting for socioeconomic factors and smoking the coefficient attenuated to -0.18 (95% CI -0.25, -0.10, P <0.001). Similar results were observed with self-reported oral health, where those reporting poor or fair oral heath had unadjusted coefficient of 6.08 (95% CI 5.19, 8.24, P <0.001) compared to participants with excellent, very good or good oral health. In the adjusted model the coefficient attenuated to 4.77 (95% CI 3.32, 6.23, P <0.001).
Conclusions: Higher frailty score was associated with poorer oral health indicated by number of teeth and self-reported oral health. The study highlights the importance of maintaining oral health in older age and incorporating objective and subjective indicators of oral health in routine geriatric assessments and health surveys