IADR Abstract Archives
Is Oral Health Associated With the Risk of Cancers of the Digestive Tract?
Objectives: Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are a significant healthcare challenge due to their increasing incidence and poor prognosis. Evidence on the association between poor oral health and GI tract cancers remains inconclusive. This secondary data analysis project aimed to investigate the association between oral health, including periodontal disease, and risk of death from upper GI tract cancers.
Methods: Individuals included in this study were males recruited from the Northern Irish Centre of the Prospective Epidemiological Study of Myocardial Infarction (PRIME) study cohort. Annual follow-up for health outcomes, including cancer deaths, were conducted over a 15-year period. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for risk of cancer death were generated through logistic regression analysis, before and after adjustment for confounders.
Results: During the follow-up period, there were 36 deaths from upper GI cancers amongst an analytical cohort of 1007 males. Clinical attachment loss was significantly associated with an increased risk of upper GI cancer death (OR:1.33, 95% CI 1.06-1.66) in the unadjusted analysis and associations remained after adjustments for age (OR: 1.31, 95% CI 1.05-1.64). These risks were, however, marginally non-significant after multivariable adjustments in model 1 (OR: 1.22, 95% CI 0.96-1.56) and model 2 (OR: 1.27, 95% CI 0.99-1.63). Model 1 included the variables age, smoking status (current and past), BMI, alcohol consumption, and fruit and vegetable intake. The second model further adjusted for diabetes, education, socioeconomic status, waist circumference and hip circumference. The findings for tooth loss and upper GI cancer death were not significant.
Conclusions: Clinical attachment loss was observed to be associated with a greater risk of upper GI cancer death in this study cohort. Residual confounding may explain this association however, further investigation with a larger sample population is warranted to verify the findings of this study given the small number of GI cancer deaths.
Methods: Individuals included in this study were males recruited from the Northern Irish Centre of the Prospective Epidemiological Study of Myocardial Infarction (PRIME) study cohort. Annual follow-up for health outcomes, including cancer deaths, were conducted over a 15-year period. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for risk of cancer death were generated through logistic regression analysis, before and after adjustment for confounders.
Results: During the follow-up period, there were 36 deaths from upper GI cancers amongst an analytical cohort of 1007 males. Clinical attachment loss was significantly associated with an increased risk of upper GI cancer death (OR:1.33, 95% CI 1.06-1.66) in the unadjusted analysis and associations remained after adjustments for age (OR: 1.31, 95% CI 1.05-1.64). These risks were, however, marginally non-significant after multivariable adjustments in model 1 (OR: 1.22, 95% CI 0.96-1.56) and model 2 (OR: 1.27, 95% CI 0.99-1.63). Model 1 included the variables age, smoking status (current and past), BMI, alcohol consumption, and fruit and vegetable intake. The second model further adjusted for diabetes, education, socioeconomic status, waist circumference and hip circumference. The findings for tooth loss and upper GI cancer death were not significant.
Conclusions: Clinical attachment loss was observed to be associated with a greater risk of upper GI cancer death in this study cohort. Residual confounding may explain this association however, further investigation with a larger sample population is warranted to verify the findings of this study given the small number of GI cancer deaths.