Question:
I thought this was very interesting.......
"The results of this study showed that periodontitis in cardiac patients was
significantly more frequent than in non-cardiac patients." said Professor
E.H. Rompen, Department of Periodontology - Dental Surgery, C.H.U. Liège,
Belgium. "We found that 91% of patients with cardiovascular disease suffered
from moderate to severe periodontitis, while this proportion was 66% in the
non-cardiac patients."
Periodontitis seems to influence the occurrence and the severity of coronary
artery disease and increases the risk of heart attack or stroke, and the
study proposes two hypotheses for this occurrence. One hypothesis is that
periodontal pathogens could enter the bloodstream, invade the blood vessel
walls and ultimately cause atherosclerosis. (Atherosclerosis is a multistage
process set in motion when cells lining the arteries are damaged as a result
of high blood pressure, smoking, toxic substances, and other agents.)
Answer:
Simple answer ......
People without insurance do not see the doc regularly and may have
various other bad lifestyle habits.
That plus periodontal disease (neglect) are often caused by being
poor.
No cause/effect from perio/cardiac.
That reminds me of a study done many years ago. The study showed a
correlation between drinking caffeine-free coffee, and dying of Heart
problems. They somehow published the study in the New England Journal
of Medicine. The TV and newspapers ran stories for a few weeks
talking about this study. People started drinking regular coffee
again. It took a while for the public to wake up and realize that
people with pre- existing heart trouble were more likely to be
drinking caffeine free coffee, and were already at high risk for dying
from cardiac problems. Bad research getting good publicity.
The researchers seem to have placed their bets on which is the chicken and which
is the egg in this discussion, but I have not really read anything that shows me
how they did so. My experience has shown me that what Joel says is true. Many of
the same habits that contribute to cardiac disease will also have detrimental
effect on other parts of the body.
Another study along these same lines is the link between sleep apnea and cardiac
disease and/or high blood pressure. There is a correlation, but it is also
evident that a high percentage of people with sleep apnea are grossly obese.
So...is the apnea causing problems, or is it the obesity? Which is the chicken,
which is the egg.
I have seen too many "studies" that seem to draw conclusions that defy common
sense.
Statistics can be fun, and entertaining!
http://www.burns.com/wcbspurcorl.htm
1. Get data on all the fires in San Francisco for the last ten years.
2. Correlate the number of fire engines at each fire and the damages in dollars
at each fire.
Note the significant relationship between number of fire engines and the amount
of damage. Conclude that fire engines cause the damage.
There are many other less silly examples, but the general theme is that many
have confused association with causation.
