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Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Robust Ligature-Induced Model of Murine Periodontitis for the Evaluation of Oral Neutrophils
Published on: January 21, 2020
Increased odds for COVID-19 infection among individuals with periodontal disease
Michael Andrews1, Hanzhi Gao2, Santanu Datta1
1Department of Health Services Research, Management and Policy, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Objectives:
Periodontal disease has been linked to multiple systemic conditions, but the relationship with COVID-19 still needs to be elucidated. We hypothesized that periodontal disease may be associated with COVID-19 infection.
Materials And Methods:
This study utilized cross-sectional data to establish the strength of the association between periodontal disease and COVID-19 infection. The University of Florida Health Center's i2b2 patient's registry was used to generate patient counts through ICD-10 diagnostic codes. Univariate descriptive statistics of the patient population and logistic regression to estimate odds ratios of associations between periodontal disease and COVID-19 infection were used for analysis.
Results:
Patients with periodontal disease were 4.4 times more likely to be positively diagnosed with COVID-19 than patients without PD. Associations remained similar and robust (P value < 0.0001) after adjustment for age (OR = 4.34; 95% CI, 3.68-5.09), gender (OR = 4.46; 95% CI, 3.79-5.23), and smoking status (OR = 4.77; 95% CI, 4.04-5.59). Associations were smaller but remained robust (P value < 0.0001) after adjusting for race (OR = 2.83; 95% CI, 2.40-3.32), obesity (OR = 2.53; 95% CI, 2.14-2.98), diabetes (OR = 3.32; 95% CI, 2.81-3.90), and cardiovascular disease (OR = 2.68; 95% CI, 2.27-3.14).
Conclusions:
Periodontal disease is significantly associated with increased odds for COVID-19 infection.
Clinical Relevance:
With the caveat of a cross-sectional study design, these results suggest that periodontal disease may increase the odds for COVID-19 infection.
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