Oral health and mortality risk in the institutionalised elderly

Objective: Examining oral health and oral hygiene as predictors of subsequent one-year survival in the institutionalized elderly. Design: It was hypothesized that oral health would be related to mortality in an institutionalized geriatric population. A 12-month prospective study of 292 elderly residing in nine geriatric institutions in Granada, Spain, was thus carried out to evaluate the association between oral health and mortality. Independent samples, T-test, chi-square test and Cox regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Sixty-three participants died during the 12-month follow-up. Results: Mortality was increased in denture users (RR = 2.18, p= 0.007) and in people suffering …