Impact of oral health on cognitive function among the older adults in rural Shandong,China
Objective To investigate the status quo of cognitive function in the elderly adults in rural Shandong,China,and to explore the impact of oral health on subjective and objective cognitive function.Methods Multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to select the participants.The 5-item oral health impact profile,Subjective Cognitive Decline Questionnaire,and Mini-mental State Examination were used for question-naire survey.Chi-square test and stratified analysis were used to investigate the impact of oral health on cognitive function.Results Among the 2 689 elderly adults included,86.20%suffered from subjective cognitive impair-ment and 23.69%from objective cognitive impairment.The elderly adults with poor oral health were at higher risk of subjective cognitive impairment(OR=1.678,95%CI:1.228~2.292)and objective cognitive impairment(OR=1.528,95%CI:1.238~1.885).Conclusions Many rural elderly adults in Shandong Province have subjective cognitive dysfunction and a degree of objective cognitive dysfunction.Poor oral health is related to poor cognitive function of the elderly adults.Therefore,the screening of cognitive function among the elderly population should be strengthened and those with poor oral health should be paid more attention to.
Shandong ProvinceRural areaElderly adultsOral healthSubjective cognitive functionObjective cognitive function