TY - JOUR
T1 - Association between Oral Health and Cognitive Status
T2 - A Systematic Review
AU - Wu, Bei
AU - Fillenbaum, Gerda G.
AU - Plassman, Brenda L.
AU - Guo, Liang
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research Grant 1R01DE019110 (BW); NIH, National Institute of Nursing Research Grant 1P30NR014139 (BW); and NIH, National Institute on Aging Grant 1P30AG028716 (GGF). This study was presented at the annual scientific meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, 2013. We would like to thank Qin Lu for his assistance with the literature review.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - Objectives To systematically review longitudinal studies examining the association between oral health and cognitive decline. Design Studies published between January 1993 and March 2013 were identified by search of English language publications in PubMed/Medline using relevant Medical Subject Heading terms and title and abstract keywords and from CINAHL using relevant subject headings. After applying eligibility criteria and adding four studies identified from article references, 56 of the 1,412 articles identified remained; 40 were cross-sectional, and 16 were longitudinal; 11 of the latter examined the effect of oral health on change in cognitive health or dementia incidence, five examined the reverse. Setting Sources of information included administrative data, subject evaluations in parent studies, medical and dental records, self-reports, and in-person evaluations. Participants Older adults. Measurements Most studies used subjects whose oral or cognitive status was known, using standard approaches to impute for missing information. The oral health information most frequently studied included number of teeth, periodontal and caries problems, and denture use. Cognition was most frequently evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination or according to a diagnosis of dementia. Results Some studies found that oral health measures such as number of teeth and periodontal disease were associated with risk of cognitive decline or incident dementia, whereas others did not find an association. Similarly, cognitive decline was not consistently associated with greater loss of teeth or number of decayed teeth. It is likely that methodological limitations play a major role in explaining the inconsistent findings. Conclusion It is unclear how or whether oral health and cognitive status are related. Additional research is needed in which there is greater agreement on how oral health and cognitive states are assessed to better examine the linkages between these two health outcomes.
AB - Objectives To systematically review longitudinal studies examining the association between oral health and cognitive decline. Design Studies published between January 1993 and March 2013 were identified by search of English language publications in PubMed/Medline using relevant Medical Subject Heading terms and title and abstract keywords and from CINAHL using relevant subject headings. After applying eligibility criteria and adding four studies identified from article references, 56 of the 1,412 articles identified remained; 40 were cross-sectional, and 16 were longitudinal; 11 of the latter examined the effect of oral health on change in cognitive health or dementia incidence, five examined the reverse. Setting Sources of information included administrative data, subject evaluations in parent studies, medical and dental records, self-reports, and in-person evaluations. Participants Older adults. Measurements Most studies used subjects whose oral or cognitive status was known, using standard approaches to impute for missing information. The oral health information most frequently studied included number of teeth, periodontal and caries problems, and denture use. Cognition was most frequently evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination or according to a diagnosis of dementia. Results Some studies found that oral health measures such as number of teeth and periodontal disease were associated with risk of cognitive decline or incident dementia, whereas others did not find an association. Similarly, cognitive decline was not consistently associated with greater loss of teeth or number of decayed teeth. It is likely that methodological limitations play a major role in explaining the inconsistent findings. Conclusion It is unclear how or whether oral health and cognitive status are related. Additional research is needed in which there is greater agreement on how oral health and cognitive states are assessed to better examine the linkages between these two health outcomes.
KW - cognitive decline
KW - dementia
KW - oral health
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U2 - 10.1111/jgs.14036
DO - 10.1111/jgs.14036
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27037761
AN - SCOPUS:84963491082
SN - 0002-8614
VL - 64
SP - 739
EP - 751
JO - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
JF - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
IS - 4
ER -