Abstract

Aims: To investigate whether periodontal condition measured by bleeding periodontal pockets is associated with atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, and eczema nummulare.

Materials and methods: The study population (n=1871) was obtained from the 46-year follow-up study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study (NFBC1966). The periodontal condition was measured by the number of sites with bleeding periodontal pockets that were ≥ 4 mm deep. The whole skin of the participants was clinically examined, and diagnoses of skin diseases were determined according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Prevalence rate ratios (PRR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using Poisson regression models with robust error variance.

Results: In this cohort, consisting of 46-year-old members of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, the presence of 1−3 and ≥4 bleeding deepened periodontal pockets (≥4 mm deep) were associated with seborrheic dermatitis (PRR 1.9, 95% CI: 1.3‒2.8 and PRR 2.2, 95% CI: 1.4‒3.3, respectively), and with eczema nummulare (PRR 1.7, 95% CI: 0.9‒3.1 and PRR 1.7, 95% CI: 0.9‒3.3, respectively). For non-smokers, the corresponding estimates were 1.7 for seborrheic dermatitis (95% CI: 1.1–2.6) and 1.8 (95% CI:1.1‒3.1) and 1.4 for eczema nummulare (95% CI: 0.7–2.9) and 1.2 (95% CI: 0.5–2.9), respectively. No association was found between bleeding deepened periodontal pockets and atopic dermatitis. Further adjustments for C-reactive protein, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases did not essentially change the risk estimates among either the total population or the non-smokers.

Conclusions: Bleeding periodontal pockets appeared to be associated with the presence of seborrheic dermatitis and eczema nummulare.