Affiliations 

  • 1 Gua Musang Dental Clinic
  • 2 Universiti Sains Malaysia
MyJurnal

Abstract

This study was to investigate the association between functional dentition with inadequate calorie intake and underweight in elderly people living in “Pondok” in Kelantan. A cross-sectional study participated by 369 elderly people was carried out. A simple random sampling method was utilized for the selection of the subjects. Subjects were interviewed using a structured form to collect information about subjects’ demographic background and self-reported health status. The 24-hour recall method was used to provide information on the subject’s exact food intake during the previous 24 hours. Body mass index was calculated from subjects’ weight and height, followed by oral assessment. The “Nutrical Software” was used for nutrient calculation, followed by SPSS version 11.5 for data analysis. The response rate was 95.6%. Majority of the respondents were female (92.4%). The percentage of subjects who had inadequate calorie intake and underweight was 71.0% and 25.7% respectively. The percentage of edentulism was 81.0%. The proportion of elderly with compromised functional dentition was 48.2% and majority was edentate elderly without wearing any complete dentures or wearing defective dentures, 23.6% and 56.2% respectively, while 20.2% was dentate elderly. The odds of having inadequate calorie intake and getting underweight among elderly with a compromised functional dentition was 3.7 times and 42.0 times respectively, compared to elderly with a non-compromised functional dentition. There was a significant association between inadequate calorie intake and underweight with functional dentition among elderly living in “Pondok” in Kelantan.