Relationship between the nutritional state of elderly people in need of support or nursing care and jaw-opening force and tongue pressure.
Kengo Hoyano, Eiko Tsujihashi, Keiko Nishio and 1 others
PMID 31645799WHAT IT FOUND
Better nutritional scores correlated with stronger jaw-opening force in 25 care-dependent elders, but not with tongue pressure.
Low jaw force may signal malnutrition risk, though the small sample limits certainty.
Key findings
01A significant positive correlation was found between Mini Nutritional Assessment scores and jaw-opening force.
02No significant correlation was found between nutritional state and tongue pressure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (25 participants), which increases the risk of missing true relationships (type 1 errors). All participants could eat three meals orally and had stable general conditions, so results do not apply to those with severe dysphagia or tube feeding. There were more women than men, and differences in care levels were not controlled, which may have influenced the results. No participants had MNA scores of 14 or less, limiting the range of nutritional states observed.
Declared interests
None reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of correlation between tongue pressure and nutrition as evidence that tongue strength is unaffected by malnutrition. The small sample size and specific health status of participants mean this null finding is uncertain and may not generalize.