住院高齡者口腔健康與營養狀態之探討

Exploring Oral Health and Nutritional Status among Hospitalized Elderly Patients

10.29461/TGG.201408_9(3).0002

葉俊吟(Chun-Yin Yeh)；王芊仅(Chien-Yu Wang)；胡芳文(Fang-Wen Hu)

住院高齡者 ； 營養 ； 口腔健康 ； hospitalized elderly ； nutrition ； oral health

台灣老年醫學暨老年學雜誌

9卷3期（2014 / 08 / 01）

68 - 83

繁體中文

目的：調查住院高齡者口腔健康與營養狀態，進而探討營養對疾病恢復的影響。方法：描述相關性研究法，以南台灣某醫學中心內科病房之住院高齡者為對象。利用結構式問卷進行資料收集，包括：人口學變項、疾病嚴重度、老年憂鬱症篩檢表、Katz's日常生活活動功能、簡短智能評估表、口腔健康評估工具表及迷你營養評估問卷。結果：住院高齡者44.6%嚴重缺牙，其中僅54.1%有規律配戴假牙。住院高齡者口腔健康與營養狀態無相關，但營養不良較營養良好者在住院天數平均多5.72天（p=0.031）。結論：無規律配戴假牙為住院高齡者主要口腔健康問題。住院高齡者營養不良者之口腔健康顯著較差，然而進一步調整日常生活活動功能、疾病嚴重度、認知功能、憂鬱程度等變項後，發現口腔健康與營養狀態未達統計顯著相關，而營養不良顯著增加住院天數。建議臨床護理人員需加強高齡者口腔健康與營養狀態評估，以提升照護品質，促進恢復並減少住院天數。

Objective: To explore oral health and nutrition status among hospitalized elderly patients and to investigate the effects of nutrition status on recovery. Methods: A descriptive correlation method was used to study the hospitalized elderly patients at a medical center in southern Taiwan. A structured questionnaire that included a demographic survey, Charlson Combidity Index (CCI), Geriatric depression scale (GDS), Katz activities of daily living scale (ADL), Mini mental state examination (MMSE), Oral health assessment tool (OHAT), and Mini nutritional assessment (MNA) was used to collect data. Results: 44.6% of the hospitalized elderly patients had missing teeth. Only 54.1% of them were wearing denture. No significant relationship was found in oral health and nutritional status. However, patients with malnutrition reported an increase of 5.72 hospital days (p=0.031) than their well-nutrition counterparts. Conclusions: Wearing no denture or failure to wear denture on a regular basis was the major oral problem among hospitalized elderly patients. Oral health is significant poorer in the hospitalized elderly marked with malnutrition. After activities of daily living function, disease severity, cognitive function, and depression further controlled, no significant relationship was detected in oral health and nutritional status. However, malnutrition did appear to severely impact on recovery. Clinical specialists are therefore adviced to pay more attention to patients' oral health and nutritional assessments so as to enhance the quality of care and reduce lengths of hospitalization.