Inter relationship of oral health status nutritional status and cognitive ability with dependency in activities of daily living of Institutionalized elderly people in Thiruvallur district A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

9 newlineABSTRACT newlineBackground newlineThe proportion of elderly people in the Indian population is steadily increasing. Over a newlineperiod of time the disease patterns in India have predominantly changed from newlineinfectious to non-communicable diseases. This has led to the rise in morbidity and fall newlinein mortality causing marked increase in elderly population newlineAim: newlineTo assess the prevalence and association of oral health status, nutritional status, newlinecognitive ability and dependency on activities of daily living (ADL) among geriatric newlinepopulations in residential homes in Tiruvallur district. newlineMaterials and Methods: newlineA cross sectional study was conducted among institutionalized elderly population aged newline65-74 years. Oral health status was assessed using WHO Oral Health Assessment newlineForm(2013), Nutritional status was assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment form, newlineActivities of daily living was assessed by Barthel index and dementia was assessed by newlineClinical dementia rating scale. Descriptive statistics, Kendall tau s correlation and newlinebinary logistic regression were done to test if the differences for various parameters newline10 newlineResults: newlineThere was a high prevalence (77.9%) of periodontitis among the study subjects. About newlinehalf the population (40.7%) were malnourished, 20.9% had dementia and 29.6% were newlinepartially or completely dependent on doing their daily activities newlineConclusion: newlineIn India, which is a developing country, a low level of dental care results from low-level newlinefinancing of the Indian health care system. This, however, does not mean that even in newlinethe current poor economic conditions, it is impossible to improve dental awareness of newlinethe residents of care homes. The improvement is also possible through the inclusion newlineof dental check-ups into the schedule of general dental examinations of the residents newlineperformed once in 6 months. newlineKey words: Oral health status, institutionalized elderly, nutritional status, Activities of newlinedaily living, Dementia, Barthel index newline