Association between oral health status and central obesity among Brazilian independent-living elderly

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between oral health status and central obesity (CO) in Brazilian independent-living elderly. A cross-sectional study was carried out in a sample of 489 elderly, who were participants of the Study on Aging and Longevity, in Londrina, state of Parana. The number of natural teeth and use of prostheses were evaluated according to the World Health Organization criteria. The presence of CO was assessed using measures of waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). Information concerning sociodemographic profile and some systemic conditions was also collected. Data were analyzed using stepwise logistic regression, α=5%. According to WC and WHR measures, the prevalence of central obesity was 79.3% and 76.1%, respectively. CO according to WC was not associated with oral status. Considering the WHR measure, the following oral conditions were associated to CO: having fewer natural teeth (OR = 2.61; 95%CI = 1.17-5.80), being edentulous and wearing both upper and lower complete dentures (OR = 2.34; 95%CI = 1.11-4.93), and being edentulous wearing only the upper complete denture (OR = 2.64; 95%CI = 1.01-6.95). Traditional risk factors for CO such as gender, dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes were associated with both measures. A poor oral health due to extensive tooth loss, whether partial or complete, even if rehabilitated by removable prostheses, may be considered a good predictor of CO in Brazilian independent-living elderly.

Association between Tooth Loss and Body Mass Index Among Older Adults in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan

“…The results showed elderly with reduced number of teeth were 1.4 times more likely to be centrally obese than individuals with a higher number of teeth (Singh et al 2015). Further, Peruchi et al (2016) studied other elderly community in Brazil and indicated that extensive tooth loss increased the likelihood of having central obesity (Peruchi et al 2016). In contrast, studies conducted among the Asian elderly communities like Sri Lanka (Perera & Ekanayake 2012) and Indonesia (Adiatman et al 2013) also concluded that tooth loss is significantly associated with being underweight.…”

“…As the prevalence of tooth loss is high among older people, chewing ability may be reduced leading to inadequate intake of important nutrients. The association between tooth loss and nutritional status has been researched in many studies (Peruchi et al 2016;Singh et al 2015). Reduction in number of functioning teeth may lead to food avoidance and difficulties in chewing (Tada & Miura 2014), poor diet quality (Gomes et al 2016), less intake of specific nutrients (Koodaryan et al 2014), inadequate calorie intake (Zhu & Hollis 2014), underweight (Hu et al 2015) and overweight or obese (Nascimento et al 2016) among the aged population.…”

Untitled

“…Singh et al did not observe an association between general obesity and tooth loss [17]. Nonetheless, a positive relationship between BMI and complete or partial tooth loss has been suggested [18]. Assessment of the relationship was also based on whether or not individuals were rehabilitated with an oral prosthesis.…”

“…Like smoking, diabetes is a known risk factor for periodontal disease [18]. Approximately one-third of diabetics suffer from severe periodontitis [18].…”

“…Like smoking, diabetes is a known risk factor for periodontal disease [18]. Approximately one-third of diabetics suffer from severe periodontitis [18]. Indeed, individuals with uncontrolled diabetes presented with greater numbers of missing teeth or were more likely to be edentulous compared to those without diabetes [21][22][23].…”