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Mouth Odor on Preventing Pneumonia by Oral Frailty

Not Applicable
Recruiting
Conditions
Pneumonia
Breathing, Mouth
Frailty
Interventions
Procedure: Oral care
Procedure: Oral exercises and oral hygiene
Registration Number
NCT05987982
Lead Sponsor
National Cheng-Kung University Hospital
Brief Summary

This research plan aims to first collect data on the oral function and oral hygiene status of the elderly population in the community and to understand the normal model of oral frailty among the older adults in the community. Subsequently, a comparison will be made between the oral status of hospitalized patients and the community-dwelling elderly population. The goal is to verify whether oral odor can be used as an objective biological indicator following intervention.

Detailed Description

The first stage will aim to examine the relationships between the level of oral frailty and pneumonia-associated pathogens, as well as to establish a mouth odor database among community-dwelling people; The second stage will compare the differences of the level of oral frailty, pneumonia associated pathogens, and mouth odor between 144 middle-aged and older healthy people and 160 hospitalization patients. The third stage will confirm whether the mouth odor is an effective biological maker to show the changes of oral frailty, pneumonia-associated pathogens, and mouth odor after oral management rehabilitation.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
304
Inclusion Criteria
  • Age ≥ 50 years old,
  • Alert and oriented,
  • With sufficient comprehension and cooperation,
  • Willing to participate in oral assessment.
Exclusion Criteria
  • Patients who score below 5 on the General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition (GPCOG),
  • Patients with oral treatments such as oral cancer treatment,
  • Patients with oral treatments such as periodontal disease treatment.

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Group with oral careOral careThe investigators taught and monitored patients or caregivers to do oral care after meals and before sleep.
Group with oral managementOral exercises and oral hygieneThe investigators taught and monitored patients or caregivers to oral health care plus oral exercises such as salivary glands massage methods after meals and before sleep.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Clearance of pneumonia associated oral bacteria1-month after discharge day

The investigators collected tongue specimens from participants for bacterial isolation and identification. The participants' specimens were collected using an eswab and sent for bacterial culture within 2 hours. Bacterial colonies were quantified (CFU/ml). To observe the variation caused by the number of bacteria, measurements were taken again after the intervention. The investigators assessed the clearance of bacteria based on the baseline.

oral frailty measures (oral functions)1-month after discharge day

The investigators measured seven items for patients to identify oral frailty including 1) the number of teeth, 2) masticatory ability, 3) difficulty making the "ta" sound, 4) tongue pressure, 5) abnormal swallowing pressure, and 6) tongue coating index (TCI), 7) oral dryness. Oral frailty was determined into three groups: non-oral frailty, 0 points; pre-oral frailty, 1-2 points; and oral frailty, ≥ 3 points.

Oral odor1-month after discharge day

A participant was requested to exhale two gas sampling gas for testing. The investigators uesd an E-nose to identify the participants' odor. To assess the variation of oral odor after different interventions.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University

🇨🇳

Tainan City, Taiwan

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