Alveolar bone loss and tooth loss contribute to increase in cancer mortality among older patients

Both cancer and periodontitis are more prevalent with age. Information on their relationship in older patients is limited. This study aims to examine whether periodontitis is associated with increased risk of cancer mortality with a ≥ 75-year age group cohort.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 1146 patients who had digital radiographic examinations. Alveolar bone loss and loss of teeth were measured as indicators of periodontitis. Hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were taken as the effect size to summarize the associations between periodontitis and risks of cancer mortality using the multivariate adjusted cox proportional hazards model and competing risk hazard model.

Totally, 104 total cancer, 28 lip, oral cavity and pharynx (LOP) cancer, 39 digestive cancer and 13 respiratory cancer cases were documented over 10 years of follow-up. Total cancer (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.06-1.53) displayed statistically significant associations with alveolar bone loss and tooth loss after adjusting for relevant confounding variables. We also observed borderline significant association between alveolar bone loss and LOP cancer (HR 1.45, 95% CI 0.99-2.12). The above associations were consistent with the results observed from the competing risk hazard models.

Our results indicate that older patients suffering from tooth loss or alveolar bone loss are at increased risks of cancer mortality, especially for total cancer and LOP cancer.