Longitudinal Association of Alcohol Consumption to Periodontitis

Objectives: To analyse longitudinal relationship between alcohol consumption at three different time points and periodontitis in data of The Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS).
Methods: CCHS is a prospective study of general health and risk factors carried out in Denmark in 1983-1984, 1991-1994, and in 2001-2003. Participants were randomly selected from the cohort of CCHS. In total 1,597 individuals aged 20-95 years underwent a periodontal examination in 2004-2007. The periodontal examination was based on full-mouth registration at 6 sites per tooth and included level of gingival margin, probing pocket depth (PPD) and calculation of clinical attachment level (CAL). Periodontitis was defined according to severe periodontitis as ≥2 interproximal sites with CAL ≥6mm (not on the same tooth) and ≥1 interproximal site with PPD ≥5mm (Page & Eke 2007). Alcohol consumption and relevant covariates were registered using a questionnaire. Three multivariable logistic regression models including alcohol consumption in 1983-1984, 1991-1994, and 2001-2003 as exposure variable were used to fit the association to periodontitis in 2004-2007 adjusting for the effects of age, gender, smoking, and educational level.
Results: Seventy-tree participants were excluded due to edentulism and missing data, leaving 1,524 participants with periodontal data in 2004-2007. Of those, 807 participated from 1983-1984, 1,288 from 1991-1994, and every 1,524 in 2001-2003. Multivariable logistic regression analyses showed that heavy alcohol intake (>7 drinks/week for women and >14/drinks/week for men) compared to non-drinking in year 1983-1984, 1991-1994, and 2001-2003 [odds ratio, 1.04, (95% confidence interval, 0.64-1.70); 0.91, (0.59-1.40); and 1.15, (0.83-1.60)] were not associated with periodontitis in 2004-2007.
Conclusions: The results of the present longitudinal analyses indicate that previous alcohol consumption is not related to periodontitis diagnosed about 20, 10, and 3 years later.