Association between Oral Conditions and Returning Home after Discharge in Elderly Patients

For elderly inpatients, it may be preferable to return back to their homes after discharge. Therefore, it is important to predict whether elderly patients are able to return home after discharge. Our purpose is to examine the association between geriatric factors including oral conditions and returning home after discharge in elderly patients. A total of 257 elderly patients were enrolled (returned home: N = 116; changed to hospital/nursing home: N = 141). Oral conditions were evaluated by trained dentists. Cognitive impairment was evaluated using the clinical dementia rating scale. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to predict the destination after discharge were obtained by unconditional logistic regression analysis. Impaired tongue movement and edentulous were significant oral factors that elderly patients cannot return home (Impaired tongue movement, OR: 2.72; Edentulous, OR, 1.89), whereas presence of loss of posterior occlusion and mobile teeth were not associated statistically. Cognitive impairment, but not aftereffect of cerebrovascular disease, was a significant problem to predict the destination after discharge in elderly patients (Cognitive impairment, OR: 3.58; Cerebrovascular disease, OR: 1.27). Simple, reliable and inexpensive evaluation including oral examination may better predict whether elderly patients can return home after discharge.