Chronic periodontitis and risk of cerebro-cardiovascular diseases among older Koreans.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There is a relative lack of evidence from observational studies of older populations investigating the association between chronic periodontitis and cerebro-cardiovascular diseases. Accordingly, we investigated the risk of cerebro-cardiovascular diseases according to the severity of chronic periodontitis among older adults.

METHODS: Data on older adults with chronic periodontitis were extracted from the Korea National Health Insurance Service-Senior Cohort Database using diagnosis codes and dental procedures. Participants were divided into two exposure groups. Among 46 737 participants eligible for inclusion, 21 905 (46.9%) had newly diagnosed mild chronic periodontitis, and 24 832 (53.1%) had newly diagnosed severe chronic periodontitis. To determine the risk of cerebro-cardiovascular diseases, including ischemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, and myocardial infarction, multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards modelling was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in this retrospective follow-up study.

RESULTS: A total of 3453 (7.4%) outcomes were identified during a mean follow-up of 6.1 years. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that disease-free probability was lower in the severe group than in the mild group (log-rank P < .001). In the multivariable-adjusted model, the HR for cerebro-cardiovascular diseases in the severe group (relative to the mild group) was 1.16 (95% CI: 1.09-1.25). In individual outcome analysis, ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction were associated with chronic periodontitis severity, but haemorrhagic stroke was not.

CONCLUSION: The severity of chronic periodontitis could be associated with the risk of cerebro-cardiovascular diseases in older adults.