We assess the association between self-reported history of periodontal disease diagnosis with self-reported cognitive and functional decline at age ∼60. We also investigate (1) the roles of social background, demographic characteristics, education, and adolescent test scores in confounding that association and (2) the role of cardiovascular disease in mediating that association.

We use data from a nationally representative sample of 13,525 people who participated in the 2021 wave of the High School & Beyond (HSB) cohort study. HSB began in 1980 with a nationally-representative sample of American 10th and 12th grade students; these students have been followed up on six occasions since 1980, yielding extraordinary and prospectively-collected life course data on all key measures for a large, multicultural sample.

In 2021, HSB sample members were evaluated with neuropsychological tests that evaluated list learning and memory, semantic and letter fluency, and working memory. They were also asked to self-report memory and functional decline using the AD8, using a cutoff of 2 or more items for significant concerns. Mild Cognitive Impairment will be identified using an algorithm validated in a similar sample of middle aged participants.

Sample members were also asked in 2021 whether a medical professional had ever diagnosed them with periodontal disease; those responding affirmatively were then asked the years in which they started and stopped having periodontal disease.

Measures of social and economic background; demographic characteristics; and educational contexts, opportunities, and attainments were measured prospectively—and in great detail—in the surveys administered in the 1980s. Critically, almost all sample members completed a series of cognitive tasks during adolescence, allowing us to address a key set of confounders in the relationship between periodontal disease and MCI. Markers of cardiovascular disease were measured in both 2013 and 2021.

We estimate logistic regression models predicting significant cognitive and functional concerns as a function of periodontal disease history; we also estimate models that account for confounders, including social background, demographic characteristics, education, and cognitive skills during adolescence; finally, we estimate models that account for the mediating role of cardiovascular disease. All models account for the clustered sampling design of HSB and employ sampling weights to account for HSB’s complex sampling design and selective attrition from the panel.

About 15% of the cohort has been diagnosed with periodontal disease, and nearly one in five had significant cognitive and functional concerns.

People with a history of periodontal disease were more likely to report significant cognitive and functional concerns. This association remains substantive and statistically significant after adjusting for confounders. All else equal, the odds of people with a history of periodontal disease having an AD8 score of 2 or higher were about 60% greater than the odds of those not reporting periodontal disease. Very little of this association can be attributed to cardiovascular disease as a mediating pathway.

People with a history of periodontal disease are at greatly elevated risk of self-reported cognitive and functional concerns at age ∼60. This supports evidence— never before collected at this scale in a long-term, representative cohort study—that oral pathogens may contribute to cognitive well-being over the life course.