Presumed periodontitis and multimorbidity patterns: a prospective cohort study in the UK Biobank.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the pattern of multimorbidity among people with high risk of periodontitis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Over 358,000 UK Biobank participants aged 40-69 years at baseline who took part in the baseline assessment and answered mouth/teeth dental problems were included (2006-2010). Cox proportional hazard models and logistic regression models were used to estimate the association of the risk factors of periodontitis with chronic diseases and multimorbidity, stratified by follow-up time.

RESULTS

A total of 154,985 participants developed multimorbidity during follow-up. We observed increased risk of multimorbidity among participants with presumed periodontitis (adjusted HR = 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-1.08), especially in those participants with age < 50 years old (adjusted HR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.08-1.14). Among the different multimorbidity patterns, presumed periodontitis was mainly associated with the mental disorder pattern and metabolic and vascular disease pattern.

CONCLUSIONS

Presumed periodontitis was positively associated with multimorbidity, even more so in younger age. We need to pay more attention to the prevention of periodontitis in the early stage to reduce the burden of multimorbidity in the future.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Early life interventions to prevent periodontitis are crucial to reduce the incidence of multimorbidity and enhance the quality of life in older adults. Additionally, greater attention should be given to the mental and cardiovascular metabolic health of patients with periodontitis.