FDA Highlights: Gum inflammation in heart disease patients reduced by statin use

by Bruce Sylvester – Cholesterol lowering statin therapy appears to also reduce inflammation associated with gum disease, researchers reported on Oct. 2, 2013 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Their research suggests that reducing gum disease might reduce inflammation in the arteries, and vice versa.

“Periodontal disease is characterized by chronic gum inflammation and affects approximately 50 percent of the U.S. adult population,” said Ahmed Tawkol, MD, co-director of the Cardiac Imaging Trials Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and co-author of the study. “Periodontitis and atherosclerosis are both primarily driven by inflammation. These inflammatory conditions tend to co-exist within individuals and their biologies may be intertwined.”

In a double-blind, randomized study, subjects with heart disease or a high heart disease risk were assigned to daily 80 mg statin or 10 mg statin daily for 12 weeks.

The investigators took PET/CT scans at weeks 4 and 12. They compared the scans to others taken before statin treatment was initiated.

In the final analysis of data, the 59 subjects showed, overall, a significant reduction in gum inflammation after as few as four weeks of treatment with the high-dose statin. Notably, improvement in gum inflammation paralleled improvements in atherosclerotic disease.

The authors concluded that the research provides more evidence of a link between periodontal disease and atherosclerosis, and it shows that treatments aimed at reducing inflammation in one of these conditions may lead to improvements in both.

“Statins have beneficial effects beyond their lipid lowering properties,” Tawakol said. “Physicians should take this into consideration when discussing antihyperlipidemic treatment options with their patients.”

Tawakol added that patients with heart disease and stroke should discuss experiences of gum disease with  physicians and should pay special attention to guidelines for tending to gum disease.