Risk factors related to the reduction of subjective taste ability in middle-to old-aged nursing home residents in Sri Lanka : a cross-sectional study

The purpose of this study is to verify the factors significantly related to the reduction of subjective taste ability of 1,015 middle-aged and elderly (50 - 96 years old) at 25 randomized selected nursing homes in Sri Lanka. Binary logistic regression analyses by gender were performed using IBM SPSS on following variables. A dependent variable is taste ability, and 27 independent variables are age, daily lifestyle, nutritional problems, general status, dental status and physiological thresholds of taste abilities (sweet, salt, sour, bitter, and umami). Smell ability (p < 0.001 - 0.05) and the Self-Report Questionnaire, 20-item version :SRQ 20 (p < 0.01 - 0.05) were significant risk factors of reducing taste ability in both genders. Especially, smell ability was closely linked to taste ability. Existence of comprehensive perception of “flavor” composed of taste and smell ability was illustrated. Significant gender differences factors were observed in long term care needs (p < 0.05), sleeping (p < 0.01 - 0.001), bowel condition (p < 0.05) in males; and height (p < 0.05), weight (p < 0.05), BMI 3 categories (p < 0.05), and brushing (p < 0.05) in females. Other variables such as age and five types of physiological taste ability were not significant in both genders. The results of this investigation also strongly indicated that the perception of subjective sense of taste was different from the objective sense of taste. Epidemiological studies such as cohort or intervention studies focusing on a relationship between subjective taste ability and sense of smell are necessary to identify more accurate and changeable risk factors for dysgeusia in order to improve elderly’s nutritional intake in Sri Lanka

Prediction of Bite Collapse by Proportional Hazard Model, Using Patient Dental Records

老年歯科医学. 2018, 33(1), 3-16.博士(保健学)新潟医療福祉大