Accumulated poor oral status strongly predicted the onset of adverse health outcomes, including mortality among the community-dwelling elderly. Prevention of oral frailty at an earlier stage is essential for healthy aging.

We recommend that more evidence should be gathered from clinical studies and trials to clarify our diagnostic criteria and management strategies.

Age-related differences in oral function were found in older adults. Moreover, frail older individuals had significantly poorer oral function than prefrail and robust individuals. The risk of frailty was associated with lower occlusal force, masseter muscle thickness, and ODK rate.

Aim:To develop a simple screening test to identify older adults at high risk for sarcopenia. Methods:We studied 1971 functionally independent, community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older randomly selected from the resident register of Kashiwa city, Chiba, Japan. Data collection was carried out between September and November 2012. Sarcopenia was defined based on low muscle mass measured by bioimpedance analysis and either low muscle strength characterized by handgrip or low physical performance characterized by slow gait speed. Results:The prevalence of sarcopenia was 14.2% in men and 22.1% in women. After the variable selection procedure, the final model to estimate the probability of sarcopenia included three variables: age, grip strength and calf circumference. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, a measure of discrimination, of the final model was 0.939 with 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.918-0.958 for men, and 0.909 with 95% CI of 0.887-0.931 for women. We created a score chart for each sex based on the final model. When the sum of sensitivity and specificity was maximized, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for sarcopenia were 84.9%, 88.2%, 54.4%, and 97.2% for men, 75.5%, 92.0%, 72.8%, and 93.0% for women, respectively. Conclusions:The presence of sarcopenia could be detected using three easily obtainable variables with high accuracy. The screening test we developed could help identify functionally independent older adults with sarcopenia who are good candidates for intervention. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14 (Suppl. 1): 93-101.

Aim: It has been reported that if nutrient intake is unbalanced, muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance declines, and therefore it is important to maintain chewing ability to keep a balanced nutrient intake. However, the relationship between chewing ability and sarcopenia has not been previously reported. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between chewing ability and sarcopenia in addition to known sarcopenia-related factors.Methods: We examined 761 subjects (average age 73.0 ± 5.1 years), who lived in the Itabashi city of Tokyo. Our research was designed to examine the relationship between chewing ability and sarcopenia. We performed regression analysis to analyze the relationship with sarcopenia-related factors with consideration of the age of the subjects.Results: The 761 subjects were divided into two groups in terms of the stage of sarcopenia according to whether there was a deterioration of muscle strength or physical performance. Furthermore, we performed logistic regression analyses on the value as a dependent variable, including known 3 sarcopenia-related factors. There were significant correlations of sarcopenia with age (odds ratio (OR) = 2.37, 95% CI = 1.52-3.70), BMI (OR = 0.75, CI = 0.69-0.81) and chewing ability (OR = 2.18, CI = 1.21-3.93).Conclusions: This study shows that chewing ability is related to sarcopenia、 which is equal to the relationship with the known factor of age by odds ratio.

ObjectivesTo determine age- and sex-specific reference values for six physical performance measures, i.e. hand-grip strength, one-legged stance, and gait speed and step length at both usual and maximum paces, and to investigate age and sex differences in these measures among community-dwelling older Japanese adults.MethodsWe conducted a pooled analysis of data from six cohort studies collected between 2002 and 2011 as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology-Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Study on Aging. The pooled analysis included cross-sectional data from 4683 nondisabled, community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older (2168 men, 2515 women; mean age: 74.0 years in men and 73.9 years in women).ResultsUnweighted simple mean (standard deviation) hand-grip strength, one-legged stance, usual gait speed, usual gait step length, maximum gait speed, and maximum gait step length were 31.7 (6.7) kg, 39.3 (23.0) s, 1.29 (0.25) m/s, 67.7 (10.0) cm, 1.94 (0.38) m/s, and 82.3 (11.6) cm, respectively, in men and 20.4 (5.0) kg, 36.8 (23.4) s, 1.25 (0.27) m/s, 60.8 (10.0) cm, 1.73 (0.36) m/s, and 69.7 (10.8) cm, respectively, in women. All physical performance measures showed significant decreasing trends with advancing age in both sexes (all P<0.001 for trend). We also constructed age- and sex-specific appraisal standards according to quintiles. With increasing age, the sex difference in hand-grip strength decreased significantly (P<0.001 for age and sex interaction). In contrast, sex differences significantly increased in all other measures (all P<0.05 for interactions) except step length at maximum pace.ConclusionOur pooled analysis yielded inclusive age- and sex-specific reference values and appraisal standards for major physical performance measures in nondisabled, community-dwelling, older Japanese adults. The characteristics of age-related decline in physical performance measures differed between sexes.

This large-scale cross-sectional survey showed that loss of natural teeth occlusion was a risk factor for malnutrition among community-dwelling frail elderly.

Our findings showed that the prevalence of xerostomia and hyposalivation were approximately 1 in 3 and 1 in 10 respectively. The factors associated with psychological factors and high-level functional competence, while hyposalivation was associated with medications and gender, as well as systemic and/or metabolic differences. It is important to consider these multidimensional factors associated with xerostomia and hyposalivation.