Correlation between periodontal disease and oral cancer risk: A meta-analysis.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between periodontal disease and oral cancer risk by meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched the electronic databases of PubMed and Wanfang to include the articles related to periodontal disease and oral cancer risk. The association between periodontal disease and oral cancer risk was assessed by odds ratio (OR) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The publication bias was evaluated by Begg's funnel plot and Egger's line regression test. All the data analysis was done by STATA12.0 software (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA).

Results: Eleven case-control studies were included in our present meta-analysis. We found significant statistical heterogeneity was existed in our present meta-analysis (I2 = 99.8%, P < 0.05). Hence, the data were pooled by random effect model. The pooled results indicated a significant correlation between periodontal disease and oral cancer risk was found with OR = 3.21 and the 95% CI = 2.25-4.16 (P < 0.05). The Begg's funnel plot was obvious asymmetric indicating significant publication bias. Moreover, further Egger's line regression test also indicated significant publications (t = 3.35, P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Our present meta-analysis indicated that periodontal disease can increase the oral cancer risk by nearly 2-fold.