Oral Health and CVD/Cancer Mortality in Glasgow Alumni cohort

Objectives: In the last decade, evidence has emerged that there may be associations between oral health and cardiovascular disease (CVD)/cancer. The aim of this study is to use the data from Glasgow Alumni Cohort to investigate whether oral health in young adulthood is independently associated with CVD/cancer mortality, after accounting for potential confounders. Methods: Students registered at the University of Glasgow (1948 to 1968) were invited to annual medical examinations. We have traced this cohort through the NHS Central Register to obtain mortality data. The primary outcomes are cancer and CVD mortality. The main exposure is the number of missing teeth at the baseline examinations. Potential confounding variables include the age, father's occupation, BMI, cigarettes smoking and systolic blood pressure. Cox proportional hazard models are used to test the association between the number of missing teeth and cancer/CVD mortality. Results: In this cohort, 14821 (men:11313; women:3508) out of the original 15320 students were not older than 30 years old at the baseline (the mean age: 20.3 y/o). After adjusting for the potential confounders, there is no association between the number of missing teeth (as a continuous variable) and CVD (Hazard ratio (HR)=1.010; 95% Confidence Interval (CI):0.989, 1.032) or cancer mortality (HR=1.007; 95%CI:0.985, 1.030). There is an interaction between the age at examination and the number of missing teeth. An association between number of missing teeth and CVD mortality was noted in students aged between 16 and 19 years old (HR=1.049; 95%CI:1.005, 1.095) whereas this association was not present between 20 and 23 or between 24 and 30 years old. Conclusions: We did not find an association between number of missing teeth and CVD or cancer mortality although subgroup analysis may suggest a higher CVD risk with increasing number of missing teeth among the younger students.