Purpose: This study investigated the factors associated with oral frailty among community-dwelling older adults. In particular, we compared the factors between individuals in the young-old and old-old groups and clarified the differences between the two groups.
Methods: We measured the basic attributes, body composition, grip strength, gait function, oral function, cognitive function, and daily living function using the Kihon checklist in older people living independently in T City, Aichi Prefecture. The risk of oral frailty was assessed using the Oral Frailty Screening and Evaluation Form (OFI-8), and the measurement results were compared between two groups: those with and those without risk. To identify the factors associated with oral frailty, we performed a multivariate analysis with the risk of oral frailty as the dependent variable and a univariate analysis separately for the young-old and old-old groups.
Results: The mean age of the 100 subjects was 76.6±4.6 years old. Forty-four subjects were at risk of oral frailty, and 55 subjects were not at risk. The high-risk group had significantly higher rates of polypharmacy, depression, and a slow walking speed than the no-risk group. The risk factors associated with oral frailty were living alone, polypharmacy, and depression. The risk factors for oral frailty were a poor ambulatory function in the young-old and a poor ambulatory function, decline in the cognitive function, and depression in the old-old.
Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the risk factors for oral frailty differ between older individuals in the young-old and old-old groups and that age-appropriate support is necessary to prevent oral frailty in older people.
Keywords: Frailty; OFI-8; Old-old; Oral frailty; Young-old.