Reckelkamm S, Alayash Z, Holtfreter B, Nolde M, Baumeister S E. Sjögren's Disease and Oral Health: A Genetic Instrumental Variable Analysis. J Dent Res 2024; DOI: 10.1177/00220345231218903.

Sjögren's disease has a detrimental effect on caries and promotes periodontitis.

This study leveraged an instrumental variable approach to investigate whether Sjögren's disease (SjD) affects the risk of caries and periodontitis. A total of 57 genetic variants strongly associated with SjD were identified from a genome-wide association study of 2,247 European descent cases and 332,115 controls. Associations of these genetic instruments with caries were tested (measured as the number of decayed, missing, and filled surfaces in 26,792 individuals) and periodontitis (17,353 clinical periodontitis cases and 28,210 European controls). Several sensitivity analyses were used to further validate the primary inverse variance weighted (IVW) estimate which revealed an adverse effect of SjD on caries and periodontitis. Sensitivity analyses, conducted to assess the robustness to potential violations of instrumental variable assumptions, further support these findings.