Abstract

Objective: Most of the existing studies examined the relationship between periodontitis and coronary heart disease (CHD) with a broad age range. This study aims to examine whether periodontitis is associated with increased CHD mortality in older patients.

Methods: 1385 patients who underwent digital radiographic examination, and aged 75 and above,were included in this retrospective cohort study. We used Cox proportional hazards regression and competing risk hazard models to compute hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) regarding CHD mortality.

Results: Significantly associations were found between loss of teeth and CHD mortality. The HR (95% CI) was 1.04 (1.01, 1.07) after adjusting for relevant confounding variables. Results from the stratification analysis indicated that female, aged 80 and above, body mass index (BMI) < 25, non-smokers and non-drinkers may face increased risks.

Conclusion: Loss of teeth increased the risk of CHD mortality in the older patients, particularly in female, aged 80 and above, BMI < 25, non-smokers and non-drinkers.