Poor oral health was associated with higher risk of gastric cancer: Evidence from 1431677 participants

Abstract

BACKGROUND In recent years, the association between oral health and the risk of gastric cancer (GC) has gradually attracted increased interest. However, in terms of GC incidence, the association between oral health and GC incidence remains controversial. Periodontitis is reported to increase the risk of GC. However, some studies have shown that periodontitis has no effect on the risk of GC. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess whether there is a relationship between oral health and the risk of GC. AIM To assess whether there was a relationship between oral health and the risk of GC. METHODS Five databases were searched to find eligible studies from inception to April 10, 2023. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale score was used to assess the quality of included studies. The quality of cohort studies and case-control studies were evaluated separately in this study. Incidence of GC were described by odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Funnel plot was used to represent the publication bias of included studies. We performed the data analysis by StataSE 16. RESULTS A total of 1431677 patients from twelve included studies were enrolled for data analysis in this study. According to our analysis, we found that the poor oral health was associated with higher risk of GC (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.02-1.29; I 2 = 59.47%, P = 0.00 < 0.01). Moreover, after subgroup analysis, the outcomes showed that whether tooth loss (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 0.94-1.29; I 2 = 6.01%, P > 0.01), gingivitis (OR = 1.19, 95%CI: 0.71-1.67; I 2 = 0.00%, P > 0.01), dentures (OR = 1.27, 95%CI: 0.63-1.19; I 2 = 68.79%, P > 0.01), or tooth brushing (OR = 1.25, 95%CI: 0.78-1.71; I 2 = 88.87%, P > 0.01) had no influence on the risk of GC. However, patients with periodontitis (OR = 1.13, 95%CI: 1.04-1.23; I 2 = 0.00%, P < 0.01) had a higher risk of GC. CONCLUSION Patients with poor oral health, especially periodontitis, had a higher risk of GC. Patients should be concerned about their oral health. Improving oral health might reduce the risk of GC.