Sheng-Rui Zhu,1,2,* Xiu-Juan Feng,3,* Wen-Kai Zheng,4 Xing-Rui Niu,5 Shu-Tian Mo,1 Wen-Zhen Tang1 

1Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia; 3Nursing Department, Xi’an Jiaotong University City College, Xi’an, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Basic Medicine, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China; 5Geriatric Cardiovasology Ward, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Shu-Tian Mo; Wen-Zhen Tang, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, Email moshutian95@163.com; tangwenzhen0416@163.com

Background: The significant occurrence of oral frailty (OF) in older patients highlights the necessity of addressing this concern. OF is associated with complications and mortality in elderly patients. The objective of this study is to identify unfavorable outcomes in older patients with OF to increase awareness and mitigate risks.
Methods: This review employed specific MeSH terms to perform an extensive literature search on OF and its unfavorable outcomes across PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and CINAHL databases. The review included English-language papers published from inception to March 31, 2024, focusing on individuals aged 60 and above, adverse outcomes related to OF, and studies employing cross-sectional or cohort designs.
Results: The review comprised 28 articles: 20 cross-sectional and 8 prospective cohort studies. Among these articles, 10 were rated as “Good” and 18 as “Fair”, reflecting the high quality of the literature. Next, 20 OF assessment tools were summarized, and the most frequently used methods for assessing OF were the methods of Tanaka et al and Oral Frailty Index-8 (OF-8). The most frequently unfavorable outcomes related to OF in the elderly were physical frailty, malnutrition, low dietary variety, social withdrawal, disability, and low gait speed.
Conclusion: High levels of OF significantly increase the risk of adverse outcomes in older adults, including physical frailty, malnutrition, low dietary variety, social withdrawal, disability, and low gait speed. Effective risk stratification and management are essential to reduce these outcomes.

Keywords: oral frailty, physical frailty, unfavorable outcomes, elderly