高齢者における機能歯数と心身機能との関係について—介護度，認知機能，食事遂行度との相関より

Relationship between functional teeth presence and physical functions on the mental in elderly including level of care, cognitive functions, and feeding performance skill

要旨：作業療法の視点から，高齢者の有する歯数と日常生活自立度や心身機能の低下との関係を明らかにすることを目的に，78名の高齢者を対象とした，機能歯数および介護度，HDS-R，食事遂行度（「食事チェック表」）の評価を行った．Spearmanの順位相関係数を用いた分析の結果，機能歯数は介護度（p＜0.001），HDS-R（p＜0.001）および「食事チェック表」全ての項目（p＜0.001）との間に有意な相関を示した．今後，特に口腔ケアが困難となりやすい認知症高齢者においても，その保存への視点と取り組みが作業療法士の役割として重要であることが示唆された．

　The authors studied the relationship between oral functions and mental and physical functions focusing on Dentistry and Gerontology. The objective was to investigate whether the number of functional teeth in elderly participants interrelated with declines in daily living abilities, cognitive functions, and feeding performance skills. Seventy-eight elderly people were evaluated in terms of number of teeth (including prosthetics or dentures), and degrees of care needed, HDS-R, and feeding performance skills (a"feeding checklist"for the elderly). The results showed that relationships existed between the number of teeth and degree of care needed (Spearman's rank correlation = -0.65, p＜0.001), HDS-R (Spearman's rank correlation=0.61, p＜0.001), and all of the "feeding checklist" items (Spearman's rank correlation = 0.37〜0.71, p＜0.001).

　The findings suggest that it is important for occupational therapists to focus on dental health, especially in terms of dental hygiene practices and denture use, with the elderly (and the demented in particular) for whom oral hygiene and attaching and detaching dentures is difficult.