[Oral health conditions and nutritional, functional and cognitive status - An approach to the institutionalized older...

Multidimensional geriatric assessment is an important diagnostic method in geriatrics. The objective of this article was to establish the relationship between nutritional, functional, cognitive status and oral health of institutionalized older adults.

A cross-sectional observational study was carried out, where 93 institutionalized older adults participated, including oral assessment and Barthel, Minimental, Mininutritional and Yesavage scales. An univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed at 2care sites in the city of Cali, Colombia.

Mean age of the participants was 76.5 years; more than 50% with null or primary educational levels, 23% presented limitation in mobility, arterial hypertension was the most prevalent pathological history with 55%, followed by diabetes mellitus 24%; and 60% of the sample was independent to perform basic activities (Barthel index=100). Regarding the number of occlusal pairs prosthesis to prosthesis, it was found that the mean of men was lower than women (2.4 and 5.2, P=0.03). The results showed an altered plaque indicator in patients with cognitive impairment 61.5% versus 100% in patients with dementia screening. Additionally, a number of teeth less than 20 in people with depression indicators in 79.2%. The multivariate analysis showed a relationship with partial or total edentulism, being the total a risk for depressive traits (P=0.04).

The results show that nutritional, functional, cognitive aspects and depression traits are related to oral health. In addition, it should be noted that a significant proportion of patients require dental intervention.