Periodontitis and all cause mortality in 60-70 year old men

Objective: To investigate whether there was an association between periodontitis and all cause mortality in 60-70 year-old Western European men. Methods: Men enrolled in PRIME, a cohort study of cardiovascular disease in Northern Ireland, were screened between 2001 and 2003, when a periodontal examination was completed. Men were divided into thirds on the basis of their mean periodontal attachment loss (PAL). The primary endpoint was death from any cause. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model were applied. Results: 1400 dentate men (mean age 63.83 SD 2.98 years) were examined at baseline. 129 (9.2%) died during follow-up of 8.8 years. 31 (6.6%) of men in the third with the lowest PAL died compared with 61 (13.1%) in the third with the highest PAL. There was a significant stepped relationship in the survival distributions across the thirds of PAL, log rank test for trend p=0.001. The unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for death in the men with the highest level of PAL compared with those with the lowest PAL was 2.04 (95% ci 1.33-3.15), p=0.001. After adjustment for confounding variables (hypertension, body mass index, diabetes, age, smoking, education and marital status) the HR was 1.59 (1.01-2.49), p=0.045. A similar analysis involving only men who were free of cardiovascular disease at baseline (n=1222) found an adjusted HR of 1.76 (1.03-2.99), p=0.037. Conclusions: There was an association between periodontitis and all cause mortality in the 60-70 year old European men investigated.

Funded by a grant from the Northern Ireland NHS Research and Development Fund.