Alveolar bone resorption and the risk factors for atherosclerosis among subjects who received general medical check-ups in Japan: follow-up study of the Nagano Health Promotion Project

Objectives: To investigate whether the presence of periodontal disease is associated with future deterioration of the risk markers for atherosclerotic vascular disease.
Methods: A total of 533 individuals who visited Nagano Health Examination Centre, Nagano, Japan, between 2004 and 2015 to receive general medical check-ups were enrolled and classified into two groups (mild/moderate and severe) according to their alveolar bone resorption (ABR) at baseline. The associations between changes in body mass index (BMI), haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-C/HDL-C ratio, body fat percentage (BF), triglycerides (TG), and fasting glucose (FG) over a 5-year period and the severity of ABR were evaluated retrospectively.
Results: Subjects with moderate/severe ABR demonstrated significantly higher LDL-C/HDL-C ratio (p=0.001), TG (p=0.004) and HbA1c levels (p=0.044), and lower HDL-C levels (p=0.044), than those with mild ABR at baseline. LDL-C, BF, and TG levels significantly deteriorated (p=0.000, p=0.000, and p=0.006, respectively) in subjects with moderate/severe ABR, and HDL-C deteriorated to a lesser extent in those with mild ABR (p=0.040) over the 5-year period. The magnitude of change during the 5-year period was significantly greater for LDL-C (p=0.001), LDL-C/HDL-C ratio (p=0.013), HbA1c (p=0.022), BMI (p=0.019), BF (p=0.031), and FG (p=0.043) in subjects with moderate/severe ABR.
Conclusions: Subjects with severe periodontitis may have a greater chance of developing atherosclerotic vascular disease. Inclusion of ABR assessment by dental X-ray examination in general medical check-ups may be beneficial.