Prevalence and Association of Periodontal Disease among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients in Qatar: A Cross Sectional Study

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine the prevalence of periodontal disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients in Qatar, along with investigating the association between the two diseases. Methods: A total of 92 participants (43 cases with rheumatoid arthritis and 49 controls without rheumatoid arthritis) were recruited from the outpatient rheumatology clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar. The ACR/EULAR 2010 for the diagnosis criteria for rheumatoid arthritis were used to diagnose participants. Results: The overall prevalence of periodontal disease was 73.9% (95% CI: 64.2 to 82.1). The percentage of periodontal disease was observed to be higher among the rheumatoid arthritis group compared to the nonrheumatoid arthritis group (76.7% vs 71.4%; p=0.562). Patients older than 50 years of age were significantly associated with an increased risk for periodontal disease [unadjusted OR=4.11; 95% CI (1.42, 11.43); p=0.009]. Having rheumatoid arthritis [unadjusted OR=1.32; 95% CI (0.52, 3.38); p=0.563], females [unadjusted OR=1.55; 95% CI (0.51, 4.74); p=0.437], rheumatoid disease duration more than 10 years [unadjusted OR= 1.33; 95% CI (0.32, 5.59); p=0.684], and body mass index of less than 30 [unadjusted OR=1.17; 95% CI (0.46, 3.01); p=0.740] were positively associated with an increased risk for periodontal disease. Conclusions: This is the first study to assess periodontal disease among rheumatoid arthritis patients in Qatar. Future work might need to involve a larger, more representative sample.