Relationship between oral health and physical frailty in patients with cardiovascular disease

Abstract

We read with interest the study by Masato et al. to evaluate the relation between oral health and physical frailty in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), which showed that oral health was closely associated with physical frailty, and nutritional status in patients with CVD [[1]Ogawa M. Satomi-Kobayashi S. Yoshida N. Tsuboi Y. Komaki K. Nanba N. et al.Relationship between oral health and physical frailty in patients with cardiovascular disease.J Cardiol. 2020; (S0914-5087(20)30256-2)Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (5) Google Scholar]. After reading the study, there are some suggestions to point out. First, the baseline clinical characteristics of patients showed that the patients in the frail group were older than those in non-frail group. Naturally, with age grown, most people may get the decline in physical fitness. Therefore, age is the important factor in physical frailty. This study may be more complete by making the subgroup analysis on the basis of age. Second, cardiac rehabilitation is an important part of treatment prescription for patients with CVD. It can help patients get the physical recovery. Additionally, regular and suitable aerobic exercise can help patients with CVD keep in good physical fitness [2Lutz A.H. Delligatti A. Allsup K. Afilalo J. Forman D.E. Cardiac rehabilitation is associated with improved physical function in frail older adults with cardiovascular disease.J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev. 2020; 40(5: 310-318Crossref Scopus (10) Google Scholar, 3Ricci N.A. Cunha A.I.L. Physical exercise for frailty and cardiovascular diseases.Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020; 1216: 115-129Crossref PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar]. Therefore, the cardiac rehabilitation and aerobic exercise should be considered when evaluating the relation between oral health and physical frailty in patients with cardiovascular disease. Third, oral health may influence the nutritional intake for patients. Indeed, most patients of this study were middle-aged and old, the situation of nutrition should be considered the gastrointestinal diseases, such as indigestion, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic pancreatitis and liver disease [4Storck L.J. Imoberdorf R. Ballmer P.E. Nutrition in gastrointestinal disease: liver, pancreatic, and inflammatory bowel disease.J Clin Med. 2019; 8(8: 1098Crossref Scopus (11) Google Scholar, 5Wędrychowicz A. Zając A. Tomasik P. Advances in nutritional therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases: review.World J Gastroenterol. 2016; 22: 1045-1066Crossref PubMed Scopus (59) Google Scholar].