ORAL CANDIDIASIS AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN HOSPITALIZED AGED PATIENTS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN CUENCA-ECUADOR

Background: Oral candidiasis (OC) is an opportunistic fungal disease related to various local and systemic factors. Hospitalized aged patients are considered susceptible hosts with several adverse clinical outcomes, including OC and undernutrition. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of oral candidiasis among hospitalized aged patients who attended on the inpatient units of Vicente Corral Moscoso Hospital and Jose Carrasco Arteaga Hospital of Cuenca-Ecuador. And also, to evaluate the association between OC and nutritional status in hospitalized aged patients. Methods and materials: This study was performed with two hundred and twenty subjects; convenience sampling was applied for seven months. Demographic data were collected by a questionnaire. OC diagnosis was accomplished by oral examination; clinical lesions suggestive were analyzed with swabbed culture tests. OC was diagnosed when patients exhibited oral suggestive lesions synchronously with positive culture results. Nutritional assessment was performed with Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) system. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM_SPSS-20 software; associations were analyzed using Chi-square test, or Fisher’s exact test, and multiple logistic regression. For all tests, ?? ≤ 0.05 was considered as a statistically significant result. Results: Out of 220 hospitalized aged patients, 62 (28.1%) were diagnosed with oral candidiasis. The mean age was 78.3±7.8 years The Demographic/clinical variables (sex, age, residence area, education, use of dental prostheses) indicated no correlation with oral candidiasis. Nutritional variables (hypoalbuminemia and severe undernutrition were significantly correlated with oral candidiasis (p=0.009; p=0.007). Conclusions: 28.1 % of the hospitalized aged patients had oral candidiasis. Hypoalbuminemia and severe undernutrition are risk factors associated with oral candidiasis.