Oral Health and the Association with Blood Parameters in Neurogeriatric Inpatients without Relevant Systemic Inflammation: An Observational Study.
Geriatrics (Basel)
; 9(3)2024 Apr 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38804312
ABSTRACT
As little evidence is available, we report the oral health of neurogeriatric inpatients and the association with hematological parameters representing systemic health. We performed a cross-sectional investigation of 30 patients undergoing neurogeriatric early rehabilitation and excluded systemic inflammation as a trigger for oral infection (C-reactive protein >5 mg/dL). Outcomes included oral health and hygiene status and routine laboratory parameters. Patients (mean age 79 ± 6 years, mean comorbidities 7 ± 3, and mean Barthel Index at hospital admission 31 ± 18) had impaired oral health (mean 18 ± 7 of their own teeth, elevated plaque indices (2.5 ± 0.4), and bleeding on probing (26 ± 17)), representing short- and long-term reduced oral hygiene. Twenty-four (80%) patients had periodontitis. Laboratory parameters for inflammation, nutrition, and anemia did not correlate with oral health parameters (p > 0.05). The number of teeth correlated moderately with total protein (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs) = 0.524; p = 0.003). Plaque indices correlated weakly with number of teeth (rs = -0.460; p = 0.010) and periodontitis diagnosis (rs = 0.488; p = 0.006). Thus, highly vulnerable neurogeriatric inpatients had reduced oral health and hygiene independent of laboratory parameters, representing a high-risk population for oral health problems even without clinically proven systemic infection. This should be considered in future interprofessional therapy planning.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Geriatrics (Basel)
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Alemania
Country of publication:
Suiza