| Background. Cross-sectional Dental-ARIC studies have confirmed associations between clinical measures of periodontitis and atherosclerosis-related conditions. However, underlying infections in periodontitis are potentially important etiologic factors linking periodontitis and atherosclerosis. Thus, this study set out to further explore the relationships between serologic measures for exposure to microbial etiologic agents of periodontal infections and atherosclerosis-related conditions in a representative sample of the Dental-ARIC Study population.; Results. Study 1: Associations between IgG antibody levels to individual periodontal organisms and preclinical carotid atherosclerosis. High antibody levels to P. gingivalis (Odds Ratio = 2.15, 95% C.I = 1.10–4.19), B. forsythus (2.5, 1.31–4.97), S. oralis (2.87, 1.42–5.84) and S. sangius (0.32, 0.15–0.67) were significantly associated with preclinical carotid atherosclerosis case status after controlling for several CVD risk factors. Also, the cumulative number of periodontal organisms was directly correlated with mean carotid intimal medial thickness (IMT). Antibody level to A. actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) was negatively correlated with mean carotid IMT.; Study 2: Associations between IgG antibody levels to individual periodontal organisms and non fatal coronary heart disease. High antibody levels to P. gingivalis (2.61, 1.35–5.04), B. forsythus (2.09, 1.11–3.96) and C. rectus (0.12, 0.21–0.68) were significantly associated with non-fatal CHD after adjusting for several CVD risk factors.; Study 3: Associations between IgG antibody to groups of periodontal organisms and atherosclerosis-related conditions. Having high antibody levels to only members of the Red group (i.e., P. gingivalis, B. forsythus and T. denticola) was significantly associated with carotid atherosclerosis (2.11, 1.32–3.36) and CHD (1.69, 1.07–2.65) controlling for all covariates. The odds ratio for associations with CHD increased monotonically from 1.34 to 2.22 to 2.86 for each additional red cluster organism detected with high antibody levels after controlling for all covariates.; Conclusion. This study found significant associations between serologic indicators for exposure to some periodontal organisms and atherosclerotic related conditions after controlling for several traditional CVD risk factors. The direct relationship between carotid IMT and number of exposure to periodontal organisms suggests a dose-response relationship between the burden of exposure to periodontal organisms and early preclinical atherosclerosis. |
