Self‐rated oral health and frailty index among older Americans

Abstract

Frailty is an important implication of ageing. Frailty is a state characterised by higher vulnerability to adverse health outcomes for older adults. 1 Frailty is prevalent among community-dwelling older adults and the ageing populations. 2 The evidence indicates that frailty is associated with mortality, chronic diseases, depression, dependence and reduced quality of life. 3 The underlying mechanism of frailty is related to impairments to the neuro-immuno-endocrine system, physical activity and nutritional status that modulate the process of ageing. 4 The most two prevailing models of frailty are the phenotypic model which defines frailty based on the presence of three of five physical criteria, 5 and the multiple deficit model which rates frailty based on the number of deficits across multiple domains. 6 Oral health is associated with nutritional status and nutritional intake among older adults. 7,8 Furthermore, the evidence indicates that oral health could be one of the predictors and markers of frailty. 9 Most of the previous studies that assessed the relationship between oral health and frailty used clinical and objective measure like, number of teeth, periodontal disease and oral function

Self-rated oral health among elderly patients attending a university dental hospital in Thailand: a telephone-based cross-sectional survey study

“…Self-rated oral health helps summarize how people evaluate their own oral health ( Locker, Maggirias & Wexler, 2009 ; Locker, Wexler & Jokovic, 2007 ). Older adults are more likely to be confused by complicated and lengthy questions, including discomfort with a complete oral clinical examination; therefore, self-rated oral health can be used as a quick, but effective tool for assessing oral health among the elderly ( Hakeem, Bernabé & Sabbah, 2021 ). Current studies have supported using these single-item measures instead of lengthy indexes in low-resource settings ( Lawal, 2015 ), where there are limited healthcare providers, or when a complete oral examination is infeasible ( Hakeem, Bernabé & Sabbah, 2021 ; Lundbeck, Smith & Thomson, 2020 ).…”

“…Self-rated oral health likely differs based on the respondent’s emotional state, physical state, demographic characteristics, economic status, underlying diseases, or health-related behaviors; those who report having poor oral health probably use a somewhat different frames of reference in their self-evaluation than those who report positive oral health, inducing inconsistent findings in research publications ( Locker, Maggirias & Wexler, 2009 ; Locker, Wexler & Jokovic, 2007 ). Despite these inconsistencies, previous studies have suggested that self-rated rating is commonly used to predict both current and future health factors among the elderly ( Balasubramanian et al, 2021 ; Hakeem, Bernabé & Sabbah, 2021 ; Lundbeck, Smith & Thomson, 2020 ). Therefore, it is important to consider the different frames of reference among study participants.…”

“…Current studies on self-rated oral health shows varied results. Most existing studies were conducted among older people from the community or in residential care ( Dahl, Calogiuri & Jönsson, 2018 ; Ekanayke & Perera, 2005 ; Hakeem, Bernabé & Sabbah, 2021 ; Lundbeck, Smith & Thomson, 2020 ; Martins et al, 2011 ; Moon, Heo & Jung, 2020 ; Ugarte Cabo et al, 2006 ; Ugarte et al, 2007 ; Wright et al, 2019 ). It is possible that these elderly participants rarely sought oral treatments and thus approached the questions with a different frame of reference than the older adults who regularly attended dental visits.…”

Construction of a multidimensional oral health indicator for the older population in the city of Manaus-Amazonas

“…The importance of maintaining good oral health at older ages and the incorporation of oral health indicators in routine geriatric assessments has been discussed in the literature 18 . Thus, a comprehensive assessment of the oral health of these individuals is urgent, focusing on the comprehensive care of this population, which has peculiar characteristics regarding the presentation, installation and outcome of diseases and health problems, translated by greater vulnerability to adverse events 19 .…”

Construção de um indicador multidimensional de saúde bucal para a população idosa da cidade de Manaus, AM

“…A importância da manutenção de uma boa saúde bucal em idades mais avançadas e a incorporação de indicadores de saúde bucal nas avaliações geriátricas de rotina vem sendo discutida na literatura 18 . Dessa forma, é premente uma avaliação da saúde bucal desses indivíduos de forma abrangente, com foco no cuidado integral dessa população, que possui características peculiares quanto à apresentação, instalação e desfecho de doenças e agravos em saúde, traduzidas pela maior vulnerabilidade a eventos adversos 19 .…”