Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of bedridden elderly adults fed orally or by tube
| Characteristic | Valuea for: |
P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tube-fed patients (n=44) | Orally fed patients (n=54) | ||
| General conditions | |||
| Age, yr | 85.1 ± 7.5 | 87.4 ± 6.3 | 0.10 |
| Female sex, no. (%) | 35 (79.5) | 51 (94.4) | 0.03 |
| Institution, no. (%) | 0.06 | ||
| Hospital A | 27 (61.3) | 40 (74.0) | |
| Hospital B | 14 (21.6) | 7 (12.9) | |
| Nursing home A | 3 (6.8) | 7 (12.9) | |
| Dementia, no. (%) | <0.001 | ||
| Mild | 5 (11.3) | 29 (53.7) | |
| Severe | 39 (88.6) | 25 (46.2) | |
| Coexisting conditions, no. (%) | |||
| Diabetes mellitus | 5 (11.3) | 5 (9.2) | 0.74 |
| Stroke | 38 (86.3) | 37 (68.5) | 0.05 |
| Cancer | 5 (11.3) | 9 (16.6) | 0.56 |
| Chronic gastroenteritis | 3 (6.8) | 4 (7.4) | 1.00 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 18 (40.9) | 24 (44.4) | 0.83 |
| Kidney disease | 2 (4.5) | 3 (5.5) | 1.00 |
| Liver disease | 6 (13.6) | 8 (14.8) | 1.00 |
| Oral conditions | |||
| No. of natural teeth | 8.4 ± 9.3 | 7.8 ± 7.6 | 0.70 |
| No. of decayed teeth | 1.7 ± 3.3 | 2.1 ± 3.6 | 0.53 |
| Denture use, no. (%) | 0 (0) | 16 (29.6) | <0.001 |
| Amt of tongue coating, no. (%) | 0.004 | ||
| No or slight | 15 (34.0) | 35 (64.8) | |
| Moderate or much | 29 (65.9) | 19 (35.1) | |
| Tongue moisture (mm) | 1.00 | ||
| ≥5.0 | 13 (29.5) | 13 (24.0) | |
| 1.0-4.9 | 14 (31.8) | 22 (40.7) | |
| <1.0 | 17 (38.6) | 19 (35.1) | |
a
Values with errors are means ± standard deviations.