Oral hypofunction and its relation to frailty and sarcopenia in community-dwelling older people

The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of oral hypofunction in community-dwelling older people and determine its relationship with frailty and sarcopenia.

Previous studies have shown that frailty and sarcopenia are associated with decreased oral function. However, these studies have only evaluated frailty or sarcopenia alone and have not evaluated their relationship with each other.

The participants were community-dwelling independent older people in Kyoto. Their oral function evaluation included seven items (oral hygiene, oral dryness, occlusal force, tongue-lip motor function, tongue pressure, masticatory function and swallowing function). Oral hypofunction was defined as abnormalities in at least three of these items. The frailty status was classified into three categories (robust, pre-frail and frail) according to the frailty phenotype and deficit-accumulation models. Sarcopenia was defined according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) Consensus. The relationships between oral function and frailty were analysed using logistic regression analyses, after adjusting for sarcopenia.

Among the 340 participants that were analysed (69 men, 271 women; average age: 75.0 years), 182 (53.5%) had oral hypofunction (40 men, 142 women; average age: 76.8 years). There was a significant relationship between oral hypofunction and deficit-accumulation model-assessed frailty, after adjusting for sarcopenia.

Almost half of the community-dwelling older people have oral hypofunction, which is significantly related to comprehensive frailty and sarcopenia.