ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Nephrology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1649113
This article is part of the Research TopicEnhancing Oral Health Literacy and Quality of Life: Strategies for a Healthier FutureView all 5 articles
Prevalence and influencing factors of oral frailty among middle-aged and older patients with chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- 2Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- 3Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences and Sichuan People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
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Background: Oral health has emerged as a subject of significant public concern. Oral frailty represents the clinical presentation of advanced oral health decline and serves as a significant indicator of systemic frailty. However, current research on oral frailty in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is quite limited. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of oral frailty among middle-aged and older CKD patients. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 307 CKD patients from two tertiary general hospitals in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, from November 2024 to March 2025. The Oral Frailty Index-8 (OFI-8), Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF), Revised Piper Fatigue Scale (RPFS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used to assess CKD patients. Chisquare tests and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the associated factors of oral frailty among CKD patients. Results: The prevalence of oral frailty among CKD patients was 61.9% (190/307). In binary logistic regression analysis, marital status, educational level, self-care ability, dentures, dry mouth, and the RPFS-CV score were identified as factors significantly increasing the risk of oral frailty in middleaged and older hospitalized patients with CKD. Conclusion: Compared with non-CKD patients, CKD patients demonstrate poorer oral health status, and oral frailty is common among CKD patients. This finding suggests the necessity for healthcare professionals to develop individualized and evidence-based strategies for the prevention and management of oral frailty, with particular emphasis on high-risk populations requiring targeted interventions.
Keywords: Chronic Kidney Disease, Oral frailty, Prevalence, Influencing factors, cross-sectional study 1 Introduction
Received: 18 Jun 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Chen, Tang, Jiang, Cong, Chen and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lunhui Wu, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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