The Association of Periodontal Treatment and Decreased Pneumonia: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Pneumonia is a common respiratory infectious disease that involves the inflammation of the pulmonary parenchyma. Periodontal disease is widespread and correlated with pneumonia. However, the relationship between periodontal treatment and clinical infectious outcomes in patients with pneumonia has remained undetermined. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between periodontal treatment and the risk of pneumonia events in the Taiwanese population. A nationwide population-based cohort study was conducted using data from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). A total of 49,400 chronic periodontitis patients who received periodontal treatment from 2001 to 2012 were selected. In addition, 49,400 healthy individuals without periodontal diseases were picked randomly from the general population after propensity score matching according to age, gender, monthly income, urbanization, and comorbidities. The Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was adopted to assess the hazard ratio (HR) of pneumonia between the periodontal treatment cohort and the comparison cohort. The average ages of the periodontal treatment and comparison groups were 44.25 ± 14.82 years and 44.15 ± 14.5 years, respectively. The follow up durations were 7.66 and 7.41 years for the periodontal treatment and comparison groups, respectively. We found 2504 and 1922 patients with newly diagnosed pneumonia in the comparison cohort and the periodontal treatment cohort, respectively. The Kaplan-Meier plot revealed that the cumulative incidence of pneumonia was significantly lower over the 12 year follow-up period in the periodontal treatment group (using the log-rank test, p < 0.001). In conclusion, this nationwide population-based study indicated that the patients with periodontal treatment exhibited a significantly lower risk of pneumonia than the general population.

Changes in prevalence of precancerous oral submucous fibrosis from 1996 to 2013 in Taiwan: A nationwide population-based retrospective study.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) has been regarded as a precancerous condition. Research examining the prevalence of OSF could be the first step in preventing or reducing malignant transformation. In this study, we probed a nationwide registered database to assess the prevalence, gender distribution, age, income, and urbanization status of OSF patients in Taiwan. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the registered database compiled by the National Health Insurance provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan. We identified dental visit patients diagnosed with OSF during the period between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2013. In addition, demographic characteristics were analyzed by multivariate Poisson regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of OSF increased significantly from 8.3 (per 105) in 1996 to 16.2 (per 105) in 2013 (p < 0.0001). Men had a significantly higher OSF prevalence than women (p < 0.001). The mean age of patients with OSF increased from 1996 to 2013. Individuals living in rural areas had a higher risk of OSF compared with those living in urban areas [relative risk (RR), 1.10; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.07-1.13]. The higher income group had a lower risk of OSF compared with the lower income group (RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.73-0.80). CONCLUSION: This large-scale government-centered survey demonstrates that the prevalence of OSF in Taiwan significantly increased from 1996 to 2013. The prevalence was higher among men than among women.