Association between chronic periodontitis and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease: a retrospective, population-based, matched-cohort study
Alzheimer's Research & Therapy20179:56
© The Author(s). 2017
Received: 24 April 2017
Accepted: 27 June 2017
Published: 8 August 2017
Abstract
Background
Although recent short-term
cross-sectional studies have revealed that chronic periodontitis (CP)
may be a risk factor for increased cognitive impairment in patients with
Alzheimer’s disease (AD), systematic reviews and long-term longitudinal
studies have provided less clear evidence regarding the relationship
between CP and AD. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective cohort study
using the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan
to determine whether patients with CP are at increased risk of
developing AD.
Methods
We conducted a retrospective
matched-cohort study using the NHIRD of Taiwan. We identified 9291
patients newly diagnosed with CP between 1997 and 2004. A total of
18,672 patients without CP were matched to the patient cohort according
to sex, age, index year, co-morbidity and urbanisation level. Cox
proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to evaluate the
subsequent risk of AD.
Results
Patients with CP had a higher
prevalence of hyperlipidaemia, depression, traumatic brain injury and
co-morbidities, as well as higher urbanisation levels, than those in the
unexposed cohort (all p < 0.01).
At the final follow-up, totals of 115 (1.24%) and 208 (1.11%)
individuals in the CP exposed and unexposed groups, respectively, had
developed AD. Patients with 10 years of CP exposure exhibited a higher
risk of developing AD than unexposed groups (adjusted HR 1.707, 95% CI
1.152–2.528, p = 0.0077).
Conclusions
Our findings demonstrate that
10-year CP exposure was associated with a 1.707-fold increase in the
risk of developing AD. These findings highlight the need to prevent
progression of periodontal disease and promote healthcare service at the
national level.
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