Periodontal Status and the Risk of All‐Cause Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and Vascular Dementia in a Community: The Hisayama Study
Michiko Furuta, Tomoyuki Ohara, Satoko Sakata, Mao Shibata, Emi Oishi, Yoshihiko Furuta, Shinya Kageyama, Mikari Asakawa, Yoshihiro Shimazaki, Toru Takeshita, Toshiharu NinomiyaABSTRACT
Aim
This study examined the associations of periodontal status with incident dementia and its subtypes in a Japanese community.
Materials and Methods
The 1396 participants aged ≥ 60 years without dementia were followed for 10 years. Periodontal status at baseline and 5 years was assessed using mean probing pocket depth (PPD), clinical attachment level (CAL) and percentage of bleeding on probing (%BOP), categorized into quartiles. Cox proportional hazards and time‐varying Cox models were used.
Results
During follow‐up, 267 participants developed dementia; 194 and 51 had Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD), respectively. Compared with the lowest quartile, the highest quartiles of PPD, CAL and %BOP at baseline were associated with increased dementia risk (hazard ratio 1.72 [95% confidence interval 1.18–2.46], 1.59 [1.07–2.38] and 1.56 [1.09–2.22], respectively, all p for trend < 0.05). Elevated %BOP was associated with AD risk ( p for trend = 0.023). Higher PPD tended to be associated with VaD ( p for trend = 0.076). Similar associations for all‐cause dementia were observed in time‐varying Cox analyses.
Conclusions
Poor periodontal status was associated with dementia in older Japanese adults. These findings highlight the potential public health importance of preventing periodontitis to reduce the risk of dementia.