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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1446862
This article is part of the Research Topic Oral Health in Older and Aged Individuals View all articles

Prevalence and associated factors with oral frailty in middle-aged and older hospitalized patients: a cross-sectional study

Provisionally accepted
Ming Zhang Ming Zhang 1,2*Jun-Kai Dou Jun-Kai Dou 3*Huan Liu Huan Liu 4*Jiahui Min Jiahui Min 5*Yang Luo Yang Luo 6*Qian Liu Qian Liu 7*Xue-Zhi Shi Xue-Zhi Shi 3*Xiubin Tao Xiubin Tao 8*
  • 1 School of Education Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
  • 2 School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
  • 3 Other, Lu’an, China
  • 4 Department of Hemodialysis, The First AffiliatedHospital of Wannan Medical College ( Yijishan Hospital ofWannan Medical College), Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
  • 5 School of Public Health, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
  • 6 Other, Wuhu, China
  • 7 School of Stomatology, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
  • 8 Department of Nursing, First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    With the development of the economy and society, people pay more and more attention to oral health. Oral frailty can limit nutritional intake and make an individual physically weak, which is detrimental to people's health.Therefore, it is urgent to identify oral frailty and their associated risk factors. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the oral frailty and its influencing factors in Chinese middle-aged and older hospitalized patients.A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2023 to February 2024 in 2 tertiary hospitals in Wuhu City, Anhui Province, China. The self-designed sociodemographic information, the oral frailty index-8, the 2-item connor-davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC-2), the sarcopenia screening questionnaire, and the three-item short literacy survey were used in this study.A total of 914 middle-aged and elderly patients were recruited. The prevalence of oral frailty was 48.7% (445/914).In the univariate analysis, oral frailty was significantly associated with age, education, place of residence, monthly income, sarcopenia, resilience, and health literacy. Correlation analysis showed that oral frailty was significantly negatively correlated with sarcopenia, resilience, and health literacy. In the binary logistic regression analysis, oral frailty was significantly associated with sarcopenia, and health literacy. Health literacy was a protective factor of oral frailty.This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of oral frailty and identify the associated influencing factors among middle-aged and elderly patients in Anhui Province, China. This study identified several factors influencing oral frailty in middle-aged and elderly patients. Therefore, the government and relevant departments should implement targeted interventions to improve middle-aged and elderly patients' oral frailty.

    Keywords: comorbidities, Frailty, Social frailty, cognitive, Medication compliance

    Received: 10 Jun 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Dou, Liu, Min, Luo, Liu, Shi and Tao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Ming Zhang, School of Education Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
    Jun-Kai Dou, Other, Lu’an, China
    Huan Liu, Department of Hemodialysis, The First AffiliatedHospital of Wannan Medical College ( Yijishan Hospital ofWannan Medical College), Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
    Jiahui Min, School of Public Health, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui Province, China
    Yang Luo, Other, Wuhu, China
    Qian Liu, School of Stomatology, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China
    Xue-Zhi Shi, Other, Lu’an, China
    Xiubin Tao, Department of Nursing, First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, 241001, Anhui Province, China

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