Edentulism and Nutritional Status among Community-dwelling Elderly in Japan

Objectives: Edentulism may affect dietary intake in older adults, however it has not yet been well clarified. The present study examined whether edentulism is associated with nutritional status and body composition among community-dwelling elderly or not. Methods: The subjects were 203 elderly aged 70-85 y who participated in the health seminar at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. Dietary intake using brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ) and anthropometric variables such as body mass index (BMI), mid-upper arm circumference and skinfold thickness were compared between edentate and dentate participants by the use of ANOVA. Results: Edentulism was not associated with total energy or nutrition intake. Anthropometric indexes were significantly decreased in the edentulous elderly (p<0.05). Conclusions: Edentulism was associated with lean body composition and it may be caused by the gut mal-absorption for the lack of oral preparation of food. Acknowledgment: We special thank to Prof. Mikasa Kimura at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and Dr. Kiwako Okada at Nagoya University of Arts and Sciences. This study was supported by a grant-in-aid of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H16-kenko-021).