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The Association between Number of Teeth and Cognitive Frailty in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

  • Original Research
  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to explore the association between number of teeth and cognitive frailty in American older adults.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Community.

Participants

The participants were 1,531 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 or older from the NHANES database.

Methods

Frailty was assessed using a 49-item frailty index, with a cut-off value for frailty of more than 0.21. Cognitive dysfunction was evaluated by the Digit-Symbol Coding Test (DSCT), with the cut-off being below the lowest interquartile range (scores ≤37). Cognitive frailty was defined as participants who suffered from both frailty and cognitive dysfunction. Oral health indicators included number of teeth and other factors, such as the presence of gum disease, daily use of dental floss, daily use of mouthwash and self-rated oral health. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to explore the relationship between number of teeth and cognitive frailty.

Results

The mean age of the total sample was 69.67 (SD=6.60) years, and 52.71% (n=807) were female. Our study suggests there was a negative association between number of teeth and cognitive frailty (OR =0.98,95%CI:0.96–0.99, P=0.044) after controlling for potential confounding factors. In addition, older adults with 20 or more teeth had lower odds of being cognitively frail (OR=0.66,95%CI:0.44–0.99, P=0.046) than individuals who had less than 20 teeth.

Conclusion

This study suggests that older adults who have more teeth are associated with a lower risk of cognitive frailty. This finding highlights the importance of maintaining as many teeth as possible throughout life and into old age. Cohort studies will be required in the future to determine this relationship.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the community-dwelling older American adults who agreed to participate in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Xiaoming Zhang especially acknowledges Xing-lin Chen for supporting the statistical data guidance.

Funding

Funding: No organization or sponsors provided funding for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences - Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Dongdan campus), Beijing, China

    X.-M. Zhang & Xinjuan Wu

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of the Innovative Development of Functional Staple and the Nutritional Intervention for Chronic Disease, Building 6, No. 24 Courtyard, Jiuxianqiao Middle Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China

    Wei Chen

  3. Department of Clinical Nutrition, Department of Health Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences - Peking Union Medical College, Peking Union, Medical College Hospital (Dongdan campus), No.1 Shuaifuyuan Wangfujing, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China

    Wei Chen

  4. Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Dongdan campus), Beijing, 100730, China

    Wei Chen

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  1. X.-M. Zhang
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  2. Xinjuan Wu
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Contributions

Author contributions: Xiaoming Zhang wrote the first draft. Xinjuan Wu and Wei-Chen were responsible for the research question and for critically revising the manuscript. Xiaoming Zhang and Xinjuan Wu performed the data analysis.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xinjuan Wu or Wei Chen.

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Conflict of interest: There are no author conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate: Not applicable.

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Zhang, XM., Wu, X. & Chen, W. The Association between Number of Teeth and Cognitive Frailty in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Nutr Health Aging 26, 430–438 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1783-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-022-1783-y

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