Relationship between Depressive Moods and Oral Frailty in a Frailty Outpatient Clinic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Depressive moods can lead to a decline in physical function and the development of dementia, resulting in negative outcomes such as the need for long-term care and increased mortality. Similarly, oral frailty highlights the relationship between aging and oral health issues. Depressive moods and oral frailty contribute to the detrimental cycle of frailty and significantly affect the overall health of older adults. Early assessment of these problems and the implementation of appropriate interventions may help prevent and mitigate functional decline. However, the relationship between these two factors in older outpatients has not been sufficiently investigated. We hypothesized that a higher percentage of patients with oral frailty in a medical outpatient clinic would experience depressive moods and aimed to investigate the relationship between these two factors.

This was a cross-sectional study. Patients aged ≥65 years who visited a frailty outpatient clinic were included in this study. Depressive moods were assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15). Oral frailty was assessed using the Oral Frailty Five-item Checklist (OF-5). The associations between depressive moods (GDS-15 ≥5), oral frailty (OF-5 ≥2), and OF-5 sub-items were analyzed using the chi-square test and logistic regression analysis.

A total of 337 patients (mean age: 78.4 ± 6.4 years old) were included. Of these, 126 (37%) had depressive moods, and 168 (50%) had oral frailty. A significantly higher proportion of patients with depressive moods had oral dysfunction, including chewing ability, swallowing function, and dryness, as well as oral frailty. The logistic regression analysis showed that oral frailty was associated with depressive moods with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.13 (95% confidence interval: 1.27-3.55).

There was an association between depressive moods and oral frailty. In addition, a relationship between depressive moods and subjective oral dysfunction, such as chewing ability and dryness, was observed. A longitudinal study is required to address the causal effects of oral frailty on depressive moods.