Abstract
(1) Background: No association between air pollution and periodontitis has yet been shown. Thus, we merged two nationwide databases to evaluate the risk of periodontitis in Taiwanese residents with long-term exposure to air pollution. (2) Methods: We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study using the Longitudinal Generation Tracking Database and the Taiwan Air Quality-Monitoring Database. The daily average air pollutant concentrations were categorized into quartiles (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4). We carried out Cox proportional hazards models to compute the hazard ratios of periodontitis, with 95% confidence intervals, in Q2–Q4 of the daily average air pollutant concentrations, compared with Q1. (3) Results: the adjusted HR (95 CI%) for periodontitis in Q2–Q4 increased with increased exposure to SO2, CO, NO, NO2, NOX, PM2.5, and PM10 from 1.72 (1.70, 1.76) to 4.86 (4.78–4.94); from 1.89 (1.85–1.93) to 2.64 (2.59–2.70); from 1.04 (1.02–1.06) to 1.52 (1.49–1.55); from 1.61 (1.58–1.64) to 2.51 (2.47–2.56); from 1.48 (1.45–1.51) to 2.11 (2.07–2.15); from 2.02 (1.98–2.06) to 22.9 (22.4–23.4, and from 2.71 (2.66–2.77) to 17.2 (16.8–17.6), respectively, compared to Q1. (4) Conclusions: Residents in Taiwan with long-term exposure to higher levels of air pollutants had a greater risk of periodontitis.
Highlights
In recent decades, air pollution has become an important global issue, being highly correlated with human economic activity and climate change [1]
Many countries have seen rapid industrialization and population density, and there is growing evidence that substantial air pollutant exposure is associated with changes in the levels of inflammatory cytokines and biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP); interleukins (ILs)-1β, 6, 8, 10; tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α; vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1); intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1); and reactive oxygen species (ROS) or reactive nitrogen species [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
These findings corroborate those from previous studies showing that air pollutant levels are significantly associated with population density, as higher levels of air pollution are observed in metropolitan areas than in rural areas [41,42]
Summary
Air pollution has become an important global issue, being highly correlated with human economic activity and climate change [1]. Many countries have seen rapid industrialization and population density, and there is growing evidence that substantial air pollutant exposure is associated with changes in the levels of inflammatory cytokines and biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP); interleukins (ILs)-1β, 6, 8, 10; tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α; vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1); intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1); and reactive oxygen species (ROS) or reactive nitrogen species [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Systemic inflammatory reactions are promoted, accompanied by multiorgan responses, such as suppressed vasodilatation, enhanced endothelial senescence, increased smooth muscle proliferation, and bone marrow activation [15,16,17,18]
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