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Aims: To determine the Oral Health Assessment Tool (OHAT) critical score in palliative care patients and the optimal timing for predicting mortality using time‐dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Methods and Results: A retrospective observational study was conducted on 176 patients treated by the palliative care team of our medical center between April 2017 and March 2020. Oral health was assessed using the OHAT. Prediction accuracy was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC) analysis, sensitivity, and specificity, using time‐dependent ROC curves. Overall survival (OS) was compared using Kaplan‐Meier curves with the log‐rank test; hazard ratios (HRs) adjusted for covariates were calculated using a Cox proportional hazard model. A OHAT score of 6 was shown to best predict 21‐day OS (AUC 0.681, sensitivity 42.2%, specificity 80.0%). The median OS was significantly shorter in patients with total OHAT scores ≥6 than in patients with scores < 6 (21 days vs. 43 days, p =.017). For individual OHAT items, the unhealthy status of the lips and tongue was associated with decreased OS (HR = 1.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19–3.05 and adjusted HR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.00–2.20). Conclusion: Predicting disease prognosis based on patient oral health can enable clinicians to provide timely treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients undergoing palliative care often develop debilitating oral conditions, including xerostomia. These conditions may significantly impact patients' quality of life. Despite the high prevalence and adverse impact of xerostomia, effective management strategies remain unclear. This scoping review was performed to elucidate effective interventions for xerostomia in patients undergoing palliative and end-of-life care. A comprehensive search strategy was employed to identify relevant studies up to August 2023. Full-text primary articles focusing on xerostomia in patients receiving palliative care were included in the review. Eleven articles were selected for analysis, and data were extracted by six reviewers. This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Among the 11 studies, interventions ranged from oral care to saliva substitutes and methods to stimulate saliva secretion. The primary method of assessing xerostomia was the performance of subjective evaluations using visual analog scale scores or numerical rating scale scores. Various interventions including oral care regimens, topical treatments, and mixed efficacy outcomes were reported. Notably, only one study directly measured the saliva volume, highlighting a reliance on subjective endpoints in most studies. Although no definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the most effective intervention, oral care was a preferred option for managing xerostomia in patients undergoing palliative care. Additionally, adjunctive treatments such as ice cubes, saline, and moisturizers showed promise but require further investigation. Objective measures should be incorporated into future intervention trials to complement subjective assessments and provide a comprehensive evaluation of xerostomia management strategies in this patient population., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Kakei et al.)