title: Influence of oral health on febrile status in long-term hospitalized elderly patients.
abstract: Many elderly patients have various health problems and are susceptible to recurrent fever. We examined the influence of oral health on the febrile status of 271 long-term hospitalized elderly patients over 1 year. In dentate patients, those with > or =20 teeth had a significantly higher risk for fever than those with 1-9 teeth; multivariate logistic regression analysis: odds ratio (OR)=5.44, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.37-21.66. In edentate patients, those with moderate or much tongue plaque had a significantly higher risk for fever than those with no or slight tongue plaque; multivariate analysis: OR=5.14, 95% CI=1.77-14.88. These results suggest that oral health status related to febrile status differs between dentate and edentate patients in the elderly population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Dentistry, Kyushu University Faculty of Dental Science, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. shimadha@mbox.nc.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimazaki
authors.forename: Mikiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomioka
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Fumikazu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nabeshima
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikematsu
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koyano
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000453:epidemiology; D009909:Oral Health; D012307:Risk Factors