A causal association study between chronic kidney disease and oral health

Abstract

Background Observational studies have shown that chronic kidney disease can lead to changes in oral health, but the conclusions remain controversial. Thus, we conducted a Mendelian randomization study from the perspective of genetic analysis to assess the causal association between chronic kidney disease and oral health conditions, including dental caries, pulp diseases, periapical tissues, and diseases of the gum and periodontal tissues. Methods We performed inverse variance weighted random effects Mendelian randomization analyses and several sensitivity Mendelian randomization analyses using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies of European people. Results We found a positive causal relationship between chronic kidney disease and dental caries, and the effect odds ratio of chronic kidney disease on dental caries was 1.368 (95% CI, 1.124-1.664; P = 0.002). There was no direct causal relationship between chronic kidney disease and diseases of the pulp and periapical tissues and diseases of the gum and periodontal tissues, with the effect odds ratio of 1.176 (95% CI, 0.973-1.420; P = 0.094) and 1.201 (95% CI, 0.977-1.477; P = 0.08). Conclusion Our findings suggest that chronic kidney disease could affect oral health, but only with a direct causal link to dental caries.