Prevalence of Tongue Normal Variant Lesions in Geriatric Patients with Hypertension in Surabaya: A Multicenter Observational Study

Abstract

Introduction The risk of degenerative diseases in the elderly is higher due to aging and decreased body function. This process affects both systemic conditions and locally in the oral cavity. Aside from aging, degenerative disease itself can trigger the incidence of soft tissue abnormalities. Aging can cause structural and functional changes in the systemic vasculature, resulting in a degenerative disease such as hypertension. Elderly who suffers from hypertension can develop oral mucosa abnormalities and most of them are found on the tongue. This study was aimed to identify the prevalence of normal variant lesions on the tongue in the elderly with hypertension. Methods This was an observational descriptive study with a cross-sectional design done in January–March 2020. Samples were elderly obtained from several public health centers in Surabaya that matched the inclusion criteria. Subjective and clinical examinations were performed by oral medicine residents and specialists. Results A total of 401 elderly were screened and 147 elderly (36.65%) met the inclusion criteria which are having hypertension and willing to participate in this study. Those who met the criteria, mainly were female from the 60 to 74 years old age group. Normal variants of tongue obtained from the examination were fissured tongue (90.48%), coated tongue (63.95%), crenated tongue (33.33%), lingual varices (12.24%), and benign migratory glossitis (4.08%). Conclusion From this study, we figured out that fissured tongue was the most common normal variant lesion of the tongue in the elderly with hypertension. Coexistence between hypertension and tongue lesions can be developed from pathological changes of disease or as side effects of medication taken such as antihypertensive drugs.

Alteraciones linguales más comunes en adultos mayores. Revisión de literature

“…Ocurre en pacientes con psoriasis y los que presentan lengua geográfica se le denomina como ¨síndrome de lengua fisurada¨ (Viñals et al, 1996;Bengel, 2010). Las enfermedades sistémicas que están asociadas a esta alteración incluyen: la hiposalivación, hipertensión arterial, diabetes mellitus, gastritis, estrés, reflujo gastroesofágico y déficit de vitamina B12 (Parmadiati et al, 2021). Existen diferentes tipos de síndromes (síndrome de Down, Melkersson-Rosenthal y Cowden) en el cual la lengua fisurada se considera como una manifestación clínica.…”

“…Por otro lado, en el Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo de la ciudad de Lima/Perú en 2006 se atendió a 100 pacientes con anemia dando una prevalencia del 81% (Ruiz et al, 2006). Finalmente, en Surabaya/Indonesia en el 2021, 85 pacientes geriátricos con enfermedades degenerativas acudieron al Centro de Salud Pública de Ketabang dando una prevalencia del 29.4% (Parmadiati et al, 2021).…”

“…Uno de los músculos de tejido de recubrimiento dentro de la cavidad oral es la lengua. Debido a que es de fácil acceso para uso clínico, se convierte en un indicador que da indicios a una posible enfermedad sistémica (Parmadiati et al, 2021).…”

Structural and functional abnormalities of the tongue: An epidemiological study from a tertiary care center

“…1,3 Few recent prevalence studies have focused on the structural abnormalities of the tongue in pediatric and geriatric populations. [4][5][6] However, we could not find population-specific studies that have assessed both the structural and functional abnormalities of the tongue. The present study intended to assess the prevalence of structural and functional abnormalities of the tongue in patients visiting a tertiary care hospital and its possible association with the patient's history and the symptoms reported.…”