Association of chewing ability with cardiovascular disease mortality in the 80-year-old Japanese population.
BACKGROUND
Few have studied the association between chewing ability and longevity.


METHODS
In this prospective study, we analyzed 697 80-year-old participants residing in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Chewing ability was assessed on the basis of the types of food that each participant reported being able to chew.


RESULTS
During follow-up, 108 participants died. Patients reporting the lowest numbers of chewable foods were associated with higher risks of cardiovascular mortality than those who were able to chew all the types of food surveyed (multivariate hazard ratio: 4.60; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-21.1).


CONCLUSIONS
Impaired dentition status with poor masticatory ability was an independent risk factor for cardiovascular mortality in active elderly individuals.
Ansai
Toshihiro
T
Division of Community Oral Health Science, Department of Health Promotion, Kyushu Dental College, Kitakyushu, Japan. ansai@kyu-dent.ac.jp
Takata
Yutaka
Y
Soh
Inho
I
Yoshida
Akihiro
A
Hamasaki
Tomoko
T
Awano
Shuji
S
Sonoki
Kazuo
K
Akifusa
Sumio
S
Fukuhara
Masayo
M
Sogame
Akira
A
Shimada
Naoko
N
Takehara
Tadamichi
T
D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires