In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 120 seniors aged 65 and above who are newly admitted to the Asian University Hospital. Within 24 hours they admitted to the hospital, we collected the Mini Nutritional Assessment scores, surface electromyography data, handgrip strength, self-assessment swallowing ability score, and clinical objective data. We performed the statistics for independent t-test, Pearson correlation analysis, and binary logistic regression with SPSS 23 software.
The masticatory performance would affect the nutritional status of elderly people. the prevalence of undernutrition among elderly inpatients is %20-50%. Previous related studies investigate the masticatory performance with special chewing gum and self-reported questionnaires. This study observes the correlation of masticatory muscles sEMG, nutritional status, and handgrip force among elderly inpatients.