Association between the Duration of Periodontitis and Increased Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A 9-Year Cohort Study

Background: Epidemiological studies have reported that periodontitis and cardiometabolic disease such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes are associated; however, there have been very few prospective cohort studies on this topic. Therefore, we conducted a 9-year follow-up study to examine the relationship between the duration of periodontitis and cardiometabolic risk factors, including hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Methods: The study participants comprised 572 adult industrial workers (417 men and 155 women; mean age, 37.4 years) who had undergone annual medical and dental health examinations from 2003 to 2012; the evaluation of the four cardiometabolic risk factors in 2003 revealed normal values in all the participants. We investigated the relationship between the cumulative duration of the presence of periodontal pockets, which is a major symptom of periodontitis, and the presence of cardiometabolic risk factors after 9 years using multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: The odds ratio (OR) for the presence of ≥1 cardiometabolic risk factor in participants with a cumulative duration of periodontal pockets for ≥6 years was significantly higher than that in participants without pockets. The ORs for the onset of obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia were higher in participants with a cumulative duration of periodontal pockets for ≥6 years than those in participants without pockets or in participants with a cumulative duration of periodontal pockets for ≤5 years, and all the differences, except dyslipidemia, were significant. Conclusions: Chronic periodontitis was significantly associated with having cardiometabolic risk factors during the 9-year observation period, suggesting that the risk of cardiometabolic disease might increase in people who have untreated periodontitis.