Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Feb 27, 2024; 16(2): 585-595
Published online Feb 27, 2024. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i2.585
Poor oral health was associated with higher risk of gastric cancer: Evidence from 1431677 participants
Fei Liu, Shi-Jun Tang, Zi-Wei Li, Xu-Rui Liu, Quan Lv, Wei Zhang, Dong Peng
Fei Liu, Zi-Wei Li, Xu-Rui Liu, Quan Lv, Wei Zhang, Dong Peng, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
Shi-Jun Tang, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Stomatological Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou 550000, Guizhou Province, China
Co-first authors: Fei Liu and Shi-Jun Tang.
Author contributions: Liu F and Tang SJ contributed equally to this work. All authors contributed to data collection and analysis, drafting, or revising the manuscript, have agreed on the journal to which the manuscript will be submitted, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong Peng, FAASLD, Academic Editor, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Youyi Road, Yuanjiagang, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, China. carry_dong@126.com
Received: November 2, 2023
Peer-review started: November 2, 2023
First decision: November 30, 2023
Revised: December 26, 2023
Accepted: January 29, 2024
Article in press: January 29, 2024
Published online: February 27, 2024
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; I2 = 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; I2 = 6.01%, P > 0.01), gingivitis (OR = 1.19, 95%CI: 0.71-1.67; I2 = 0.00%, P > 0.01), dentures (OR = 1.27, 95%CI: 0.63-1.19; I2 = 68.79%, P > 0.01), or tooth brushing (OR = 1.25, 95%CI: 0.78-1.71; I2 = 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; I2 = 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.

Keywords: Oral health, Tooth loss, Periodontitis, Gastric cancer, Risk factor

Core Tip: The aim of this current study was to assess whether there was a relationship between oral health and the risk of gastric cancer (GC). A total of 1431677 patients from twelve included studies were enrolled for data analysis in this study. This article summarised all the papers over the years on the relationship between oral health and the incidence of GC. After analysing them, the existing controversies were resolved to some extent. It was useful to guide clinical work.