著者

Keiko Ishimura Ryoto Sakaniwa Kokoro Shirai Jun Aida Kenji Takeuchi Katsunori Kondo Hiroyasu Iso

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20220221, (Released:2023-03-25)

参考文献数

35

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BackgroundThe association between the frequency of going outdoors and the risk of poor oral health has been reported in several studies; however, the findings have been inconclusive.MethodsWe conducted a three-year longitudinal study of 19,972 Japanese adults aged ≥65 years who reported no poor oral condition at baseline in 2013. The respondents rated their frequency of going outdoors in three categories (≤1, 2–3, or ≥4 times/week), and the oral conditions reported in 2016 included tooth loss, chewing difficulty, swallowing difficulty, dry mouth, and composite outcomes. The associations between the frequency of going outdoors and the risk of poor oral health were examined as relative risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using multivariable Poisson regression, while mediation analysis was performed to investigate indirect effects.ResultsDuring the follow-up, 32.5% of participants developed poor oral health. In the mediation analysis, indirect effects were observed through low instrumental activities of daily living, depressive symptoms, little social network diversity, and underweight.Compared to going outdoors ≥4 times/week, the multivariable RR(95%CI) of composite poor oral health conditions was 1.12 (1.05–1.20) for 2–3 times/week and 1.22 (1.07–1.39) for ≤1 time/week (P-trend<0.001). Similar associations were observed for tooth loss, chewing difficulty, and swallowing difficulty; the corresponding RRs(95%CIs) were 1.07(0.97–1.19) and 1.36(1.13–1.64) (P-trend=0.002), 1.18(1.06–1.32) and 1.30(1.05–1.60) (P-trend<0.001), and 1.15(1.01–1.31) and 1.38(1.08–1.77) (P-trend=0.002), respectively.ConclusionThe frequency of going outdoors was inversely associated with the risk of poor oral health through several modifiable risk factors in the older population.