Relationship of periodontal disease and edentulism to stroke/TIA.

Periodontitis has been shown to increase the systemic inflammatory response, which has been implicated in atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular events. We hypothesized an association between periodontitis or edentulism and Stroke/TIA in the ARIC Study. Data on 9415 dentate and 1491 edentulous adults included demographics, cardiovascular outcomes, lifestyle, laboratory measures, and, for 6436 of the dentate, a dental examination. The dependent variable was Stroke/TIA, and the exposure was extent (%) of attachment level 3+ millimeters (AL). Quartiles of AL and edentulism were compared for Stroke/TIA using odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), and confounders were controlled by logistic regression. Stroke/TIA was prevalent in 13.5% of periodontal examinees, 15.6% of dentate non-examinees, and 22.5% of edentulous persons. The highest quartile of AL (OR 1.3, CI 1.02-1.7) and edentulism (OR 1.4, CI 1.5-2.0) were associated with Stroke/TIA.