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Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Petrovsky, DV; Wu, B; Mao, W; Dong, X
Published in: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
August 2019

Limited research is available on the relationship between oral health symptoms and cognitive function among community-dwelling US Chinese older adults. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between tooth/gum symptoms and changes in cognitive function.Two-wave epidemiological study.Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (PINE).US Chinese older adults (N = 2713; mean age = 72.6 y; 58.4% women).We selected self-reported oral (tooth and gum) symptoms as independent variables. To examine changes in cognitive function (wave 2: Baseline), we chose the following three domains: episodic memory (East Boston Memory Test); executive function (Symbol Digit Modalities Test); and working memory (Digit Span Backwards). In addition, we assessed global cognitive function by constructing a composite measure.At baseline, 1297 participants (47.8%) reported having teeth symptoms, and 513 participants (18.9%) reported having gum symptoms. Adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, participants who reported having teeth symptoms at baseline experienced their global cognition decrease by 0.07 units (estimate = -0.07; p = .003) and their episodic memory decrease by 0.07 units (estimate = -0.07; p = .026). Participants who reported having teeth symptoms at baseline experienced a faster rate of decline in global cognition for every additional year (estimate = 0.02; p = .047). However, this effect disappeared once we adjusted for all covariates (estimate = 0.02; p = .069). We found no significant relationship between baseline gum symptoms and change of cognitive function.Having teeth symptoms was associated with a decline in cognitive function among US Chinese older adults. Developing policy measures aimed at ameliorating health and improving cognition in this high-risk fast-growing population in the United States would need to include oral health preventive and dental care services. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:S532-S537, 2019.

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Published In

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

DOI

EISSN

1532-5415

ISSN

0002-8614

Publication Date

August 2019

Volume

67

Issue

S3

Start / End Page

S532 / S537

Related Subject Headings

  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Oral Hygiene
  • Oral Health
  • Memory, Episodic
  • Male
  • Independent Living
  • Humans
  • Geriatrics
  • Female
  • Epidemiologic Studies
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Petrovsky, D. V., Wu, B., Mao, W., & Dong, X. (2019). Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 67(S3), S532–S537. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.15748
Petrovsky, Darina V., Bei Wu, Weiyu Mao, and XinQi Dong. “Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 67, no. S3 (August 2019): S532–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.15748.
Petrovsky DV, Wu B, Mao W, Dong X. Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2019 Aug;67(S3):S532–7.
Petrovsky, Darina V., et al. “Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol. 67, no. S3, Aug. 2019, pp. S532–37. Epmc, doi:10.1111/jgs.15748.
Petrovsky DV, Wu B, Mao W, Dong X. Oral Health Symptoms and Cognitive Function Among US Community-Dwelling Chinese Older Adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2019 Aug;67(S3):S532–S537.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

DOI

EISSN

1532-5415

ISSN

0002-8614

Publication Date

August 2019

Volume

67

Issue

S3

Start / End Page

S532 / S537

Related Subject Headings

  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Oral Hygiene
  • Oral Health
  • Memory, Episodic
  • Male
  • Independent Living
  • Humans
  • Geriatrics
  • Female
  • Epidemiologic Studies