Association between oral dryness and dysphagia in community-dwelling older population

There remains inconsistent recognition of the relationship between oral dryness and dysphagia. This study aimed to investigate whether the degree of oral dryness was related to the prevalence of dysphagia in community-dwelling older adults.

A cross-sectional study.

A survey was conducted from March 9 to June 19, 2023, in the Futian community, Yiwu, China.

3325 older adults aged 65 and above were enrolled.

Oral dryness was evaluated by self-reported oral dryness and oral moisture instrument. Swallowing problems were screened using the Eating Assessment Tool-10 questionnaire (EAT-10) and 30-ml water swallowing test (WST). T-tests, Chi-square tests, and logistic regression were employed to measure the associations.

The prevalence of subjective oral dryness was 53.7%, with an average oral moisture level of 29.6 ± 2.0. Dysphagia was determined to have a prevalence of 7.7% and 9.5% according to EAT-10 and WST, respectively. Participants with dysphagia exhibited a heightened experience of dry mouth and lower oral moisture (P < .001). The adjusted logistic regression model further suggested that both subjective (adjusted OR = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.46-2.72 for EAT-10) and objective (adjusted OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87-0.97 for EAT-10; adjusted OR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.84-0.93 for WST) measures of oral dryness were risk factors for dysphagia.

The presence of oral dryness emerged as a significant risk factor for dysphagia, and the assessment of oral moisture proved to be more sensitive in identifying swallowing problems among older adults.