Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults

Overview

Journal J Am Geriatr Soc

Specialty Geriatrics

Date 2019 Aug 13

PMID 31403196

Citations 9

Authors

Darina V Petrovsky

Bei Wu

Weiyu Mao

XinQi Dong

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background/objectives: Limited research is available on the relationship between oral health symptoms and cognitive function among community-dwelling US Chinese older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between tooth/gum symptoms and changes in cognitive function.

Design: Two-wave epidemiological study.

Setting: Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE).

Participants: US Chinese older adults (N = 2713; mean age = 72.6 y; 58.4% women).

Measurements: We selected self-reported oral (tooth and gum) symptoms as independent variables. To examine changes in cognitive function (wave 2: Baseline), we chose the following three domains: episodic memory (East Boston Memory Test); executive function (Symbol Digit Modalities Test); and working memory (Digit Span Backwards). In addition, we assessed global cognitive function by constructing a composite measure.

Results: At baseline, 1297 participants (47.8%) reported having teeth symptoms, and 513 participants (18.9%) reported having gum symptoms. Adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, participants who reported having teeth symptoms at baseline experienced their global cognition decrease by 0.07 units (estimate = -0.07; p = .003) and their episodic memory decrease by 0.07 units (estimate = -0.07; p = .026). Participants who reported having teeth symptoms at baseline experienced a faster rate of decline in global cognition for every additional year (estimate = 0.02; p = .047). However, this effect disappeared once we adjusted for all covariates (estimate = 0.02; p = .069). We found no significant relationship between baseline gum symptoms and change of cognitive function.

Conclusion: Having teeth symptoms was associated with a decline in cognitive function among US Chinese older adults. Developing policy measures aimed at ameliorating health and improving cognition in this high-risk fast-growing population in the United States would need to include oral health preventive and dental care services. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:S532-S537, 2019.

Citing Articles

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Gu L, Zhang J, Chen W, Weng Y, Chen L, Zhang L BMC Geriatr. 2024; 24(1):272.

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Association between self-reported oral health and cognitive function among the community-dwelling elderly in Jinan, China: the mediating effect of life satisfaction.

Liu G, Lu Z, Shan Y, Wang J, Shi X, Zong D Front Psychol. 2023; 14:1116325.

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Li Y, Huang C, Lu X, Tang Z, Wang Y, Sun Y BMC Oral Health. 2023; 23(1):333.

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Association between Bone-Related Physiological Substances and Oral Function in Community-Dwelling Older People.

Nakamura M, Imaoka M, Tazaki F, Nakao H, Hida M, Kono R Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022; 19(17).

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Cognitive impairment and edentulism among older adults: an observational study using claims data.

Choi S, Mo E, Palmer N, Fox K, Da Silva J, Nagai S BMC Geriatr. 2022; 22(1):278.

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