Chewing ability and desaturation during chewing in patients with COPD

Submitted: May 8, 2019
Accepted: July 8, 2019
Published: September 10, 2019
Abstract Views: 1435
PDF: 1041
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Chewing ability is essential to maintain nutrition status and can be associated with oral conditions, sarcopenia, and lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Herein, our pilot study investigated the chewing ability and degree of desaturation during chewing in patients with COPD (n = 41) and control subjects (n = 22). Subjects chewed a color-changing chewing gum for 1 minute and chewing ability was assessed by the color of the chewed gum, which was scored from 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good). Arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) was monitored using a pulse oximeter and the difference in SpO2 was determined by comparison between before and during chewing. The mean color score of the chewed gum was lower in the COPD group than in the control group (3.1±0.7 vs 4.2±0.9, p<0.0001). Muscle mass loss (p<0.05), <20 remaining teeth (p<0.005), and COPD (p<0.001) were risk factors for poor chewing ability. The mean SpO2 decreased by 0.78±1.46% during gum chewing for 1 min. The mean SpO2 during gum chewing (95.1±2.4%) was lower than before gum chewing (95.9±1.7%) (p<0.05). The reduction of SpO2 was greater in COPD patients who had fewer remaining teeth (p<0.05). COPD patients with SpO2 reduction >4% during the 6-minute walk test showed greater reduction during gum chewing (p<0.05). Our results suggest that COPD patients with fewer remaining teeth exhibit poor chewing ability and greater desaturation during chewing.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

How to Cite

Terashima, Takeshi, Takahiro Nakajima, Tatsu Matsuzaki, Eri Iwami, Takeo Shibui, Takeshi Nomura, and Akira Katakura. 2019. “Chewing Ability and Desaturation During Chewing in Patients With COPD”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease 89 (3). https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2019.1090.