Construction of frailty prevention method by paying attention to grooming and oral health

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21391
• Project/Area Number (Other): 18H06303 (2018)
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund (2019); Single-year Grants (2018)
• Review Section: 0907:Oral science and related fields
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Nishimoto Misa 東京大学, 高齢社会総合研究機構, 特任研究員 (60825537)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-08-24 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: フレイル / オーラルフレイル / 口腔保健 / 整容 / 美容 / 高齢者

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between daily grooming and oral health behaviors and multifaceted frailty in community-dwelling elderly people, and to evaluate the acceptability of a new frailty prevention program that combines grooming and oral health.
As a result of the observational study, we found that the prevalence of frailty and oral frailty was high in elderly people with low consciousness of their grooming. It was suggested that it is important to maintain and improve awareness of grooming even in old age. Based on the results, we developed a proposal for a frailty prevention program that combines grooming, oral function training, and oral hygiene and identified problems by a qualitative survey.

Free Research Field

老年学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

健康寿命の延伸にはフレイルのより早期からの予防が鍵である。しかしながら、従来の健康施策は健康意識の高い層しか参加しない等の課題が多い。本研究で検討した整容と口腔保健によるフレイル予防プログラムは日常生活の延長で無理なく行えることより、健康無関心層に向けた新たなアプローチとして有用である。また、先行研究において化粧ケアによるフレイル予防効果が報告されているが、身だしなみや姿勢、表情等を含む多様な整容とフレイルの関連は未検討であることより、学術的意義は大きいと考えられる。