Risk of CVD Among Adults With Gum Disease, Intellectual Disabilities

Gum disease may be associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults with intellectual disabilities, according to findings published in the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research.

Gum disease has already been linked to increased CVD risk in the general population. Since the prevalence of poor oral health tends to be higher in individuals with intellectual disabilities, researchers suspected this patient population may also be at greater risk of CVD.

“The purpose of this study was to determine whether adults with [intellectual disabilities] with informant reported gum disease present greater reported CVD than those who do not have reported gum disease and whether gum disease can be considered a risk factor for CVD,” they said.

Data analyses were conducted using information from the Longitudinal Health and Intellectual Disability Study, which included 128 participants with reported gum disease and 1252 without.

Significant risk factors for reported CVD included age, Down syndrome, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, reported gum disease, daily consumption of fruits and vegetables, and the addition of table salt, according to the findings. After adjusting for other risk factors, researchers found reported gum disease remained an independent risk factor for reported CVD.

Additionally, the prevalence of reported CVD was significantly higher among participants with reported gum disease than those without, at 19.5% and 9.7%, respectively (P=0.001).

“Further research that also includes clinical indices of periodontal disease and CVD for this population is needed to determine if there is a causal relationship between gum disease and CVD,” investigators concluded.

Reference:
Hsieh K, Murthy S, Heller T, Rimmer JH, Yen G. Reported gum disease as a cardiovascular risk factor in adults with intellectual disabilities. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2018;62(3):198-198. doi:10.1111/jir.12438