| Title: | Association between self-reported oral health issues and autoimmune diseases: evidence from UK biobank |
| Journal: | BMC Oral Health |
| Published: | 5 Aug 2026 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42632882/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-026-09395-z |
Publication 21077
WARNING: the interactive features of this website use CSS3, which your browser does not support. To use the full features of this website, please update your browser.
Abstract
BackgroundOral microbiome dysbiosis may contribute to autoimmune disease development, but epidemiological evidence linking oral health and autoimmune disease risk is limited.ObjectivesTo evaluate the association between self-reported oral health issues by questionnaire - defined as the presence of painful or bleeding gums, mouth ulcers, toothache, dentures, or loose teeth - and the risk of incident autoimmune diseases in the UK Biobank cohort.Materials and methodsIndividuals reporting any oral health issues (painful/bleeding gums, mouth ulcers, toothache, dentures, and loose teeth) were classified as any self-reported oral health issues; others as no self-reported oral health issues. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for any autoimmune diseases and 39 types of autoimmune diseases using Cox regression models with Bonferroni correction. We investigated associations of the type and number of self-reported oral health issues with autoimmune diseases.ResultsAmong 451,404 participants (mean age: 56.4 years, 54.2% female), any self-reported oral health issues (N = 177,198; 39.3%) were associated with an increased risk of any autoimmune diseases (HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.09-1.14). Painful gums showed the strongest association (HR 1.39, 95% CI 1.31-1.47), followed by mouth ulcers (1.23, 1.18-1.27) and toothache (1.21, 1.15-1.27). Risk increased with the number of self-reported oral health issues (per 1-issue increase: HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.08-1.11, P-trend < 0.001). For specific autoimmune disease, primary biliary cholangitis (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.24-2.19), rheumatism (1.48, 1.23-1.77), lichen planus (1.35, 1.15-1.57), Sjögren's disease (1.30, 1.11-1.52), pernicious anemia (1.28, 1.12-1.46), rheumatoid arthritis (1.18, 1.12-1.26), and psoriasis (1.16, 1.07-1.26) were identified.ConclusionsSelf-reported oral health issues were associated with an increased risk of incident autoimmune diseases, suggesting that oral health indicators may serve as clinically relevant markers of autoimmune disease risk.</p>
12 Keywords
- Aged
- Autoimmune Diseases
- Female
- Humans
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Mouth Diseases
- Oral Health
- Risk Factors
- Self Report
- UK Biobank
- United Kingdom
7 Authors
- Dongwon Yoon
- Barbanente Ottavio
- Choa Yun
- Sun-Young Jung
- May A. Beydoun
- Lenore J. Launer
- Minkyo Song
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 77963 | Dissecting racial/ethnic disparities in dementia traits through socio-economic, lifestyle, cardio-metabolic risk and infectious agents, with focus on Helicobacter pylori sero-positivity |
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health