Usefulness of Telemedicine for Disabled Children Receiving Feeding Therapy.

We performed a retrospective cohort study using medical records of 374 pediatric patients who visited a university dental clinic specializing in dysphagia rehabilitation in Japan between 2019 and 2020 to clarify the usefulness of telemedicine among disabled children receiving feeding therapy. The primary outcome was the feeding developmental stage confirmed at the final evaluation. Propensity score matching was performed between individuals in two treatment groups (in-person and telemedicine) before the final analysis using patients' age, sex, primary disease, gross motor function, and feeding developmental stage as covariates. A total of 36 patients were enrolled in each of the in-person and telemedicine groups. The initial evaluation for the propensity score matched population using the χ2 test showed no significant difference between the two groups in any parameter. The feeding developmental stage evaluated at the final evaluation using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test significantly improved compared with the stage at the initial evaluation in both groups (in-parson group, p = 0.007; telemedicine group, p = 0.013). The difference in level achieved at the final evaluation revealed that the most common level was "unchanged," followed by "improvement by one level" in both groups, indicating that there was no significant difference in the efficacy of feeding therapy between the two groups (p = 0.314). Our results show that telemedicine can achieve the same therapeutic outcomes as in-person therapy to improve feeding function in children with disabilities when receiving feeding therapy.

Loss of occlusal support affects the decline in activities of daily living in elderly people receiving home care.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to clarify whether the absence of occlusal support would lead to a decline in the activities of daily living (ADL) in elderly people receiving home care. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 322 elderly individual aged 65 and older who were receiving home care during a one-year observation period. The subjects were divided into two groups according to the change in the total score of the Barthel Index (BI) during the prospective cohort study period (the dependent variable): the maintained/improved activities of daily living group, in which the score was unchanged or improved, and the worsened activities of daily living group, in which the score decreased. The relationship between occlusal status (the presence or absence of occlusal support) at the baseline measurement and each BI score change was evaluated in the slightly, moderately and totally dependent ADL subgroups. RESULTS: The number of subjects in the maintained/improved and the worsened ADL groups was 152 and 170, respectively. The baseline characteristics of cognitive function and occlusal support were significantly different between the maintained/improved and the worsened ADL groups (p < 0.05). Among the ADL subgroups, significantly reduced scores in mobility and toilet use were observed only in the slightly dependent group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the loss of occlusal support may be an important factor in the decline of ADL in elderly people receiving home care, especially slightly dependent people.