Poor self-rated oral health is associated with the presence of frailty in community-dwelling older adults

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between poor self-rated oral health and frailty in older adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study in older adults in Mexico City. Self-rated oral health was measured using the Geriatric/General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and frailty using the phenotype of Fried and colleagues. RESULTS: 1 173 older adults, mean age of 66.0 (5.7) years, women 46.1% (n=541). The mean (IC95%) GOHAI-Sp score was 49.2 (48.9-49.6). Frailty was present in 9.2% (n=108), 59.9% (n=703) were prefrail and 30.9% (n=362) were nonfrail. The strength of association (RM) for poor self-rated oral health and being frail was RM 2.4 (IC95% 1.5,3.7) and adjusted RM was RM 1.7 (IC95% 1.1,2.8), with nonfrail as the reference. There is no significant association between poor self-rated oral health and being prefrail. CONCLUSIONS: Poor self-rated oral health is associated with the presence of frailty in older adults.