Increased Risk of COVID-19 Infection Among Individuals with Periodontal Disease

Abstract Objectives Periodontal disease has been linked to multiple systemic conditions but the relationship with COVID-19 still needs to be elucidated. We hypothesized that periodontal diseases may be associated with Covid 19 infection Materials/Methods: This study utilized cross-sectional data to establish the strength of association between periodontal disease and COVID-19 infection. The University of Florida Health Center’s i2b2 patient’s registry was used to generate patient counts through ICD-10 diagnostic codes. Univariate descriptive statistics of the patient population and logistic regression to estimate odds ratios of associations between periodontal disease and COVID-19 infection were used for analysis. Results Patients with diagnosed periodontal disease were 4.4 times more likely to be positively diagnosed with COVID-19 than patients without periodontal disease. Associations remained similar and robust ( P value < 0.0001) after adjustment for age (OR = 4.34; 95% CI, 3.68–5.09), gender (OR = 4.46; 95% CI, 3.79–5.23), and smoking status (OR = 4.77; 95% CI, 4.04–5.59). Associations were smaller but remained robust ( P value < 0.0001) after adjusting for race (OR = 2.83; 95% CI, 2.40–3.32), obesity (OR = 2.53; 95% CI, 2.14–2.98), diabetes (OR = 3.32; 95% CI, 2.81–3.90), and cardiovascular disease (OR = 2.68; 95% CI, 2.27–3.14). Conclusions Periodontal disease is significantly associated with increased risk for COVID-19 infection. Clinical Relevance: With the caveat of a cross sectional study design, these results suggest that periodontal disease may increase the risk for Covid 19 infection.