Association between the insulin‐like growth factor axis in serum and periodontitis in the Study of Health in Pomerania: an exploratory study

Abstract

To evaluate the association of Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) I-related variables with periodontitis in the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). From the cross-sectional SHIP, 2293 subjects with clinical attachment loss (CAL) data and 2398 subjects with tooth count data aged 20-59years were analysed. Serum IGF-I and IGF-binding protein (BP)-3 levels were determined by chemiluminescence immunoassays. Linear and logistic regressions with fractional polynomials were used to study associations between IGF-related variables and mean CAL or high tooth loss. For non-linear relations between IGFBP-3 and mean CAL, graphical presentations of fractional polynomials were used to deduce knots for linear splines. In fully adjusted models, for serum IGFBP-3 values ≤1200ng/ml, mean CAL increased significantly for decreasing serum IGFBP-3 levels [B=-0.027 (95% CI, -0.049; -0.005), p=0.02]. The odds for high tooth loss decreased significantly for high serum IGFBP-3 values [OR=0.97 (0.95; 0.99), p=0.02]. Serum IGF-I levels and the IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio were not related to mean CAL or tooth loss after full adjustment. Low serum IGFBP-3 levels might be associated with higher levels of periodontal disease. Neither serum IGF-I nor IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratios were associated with periodontitis.