AS382 - The oral microbiome and periodontitis: Longitudinal study in older women in the Buffalo osteoperio study

Investigator Names and Contact Information

Jean Wactawski-Wende (jww@buffalo.edu)

Introduction/Intent

Purpose: We propose to assess the feasibility of conducting a fifteen-year follow-up study of participants from the Buffalo Osteoporosis and Periodontal Disease (OsteoPerio) ancillary studies of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study conducted at the Buffalo, NY WHI Vanguard Clinical Center. The feasibility study will involve inviting 20 participants to come to the WHI clinic for a third study visit involving answering questionnaires, having a complete oral health examination, collection of biological samples (including a stool sample) and having dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans for determination of bone density and body composition. We plan to submit a R01 grant to NIH in 2013 to invite the entire OsteoPerio cohort back for a third study visit with the primary aim of the NIH application to examine the longitudinal associations between the oral microbiome, assessed with DNA sequencing, and periodontal disease progression. Secondary aims for the future grant will also include examining changes over time in the oral microbiome (determined using stored and newly collected biofilm samples) and describing the gut microbiome (from newly collected stool samples) in these aging post-menopausal women. For this reason, we intend to add a stool sample collection as part of the R01 activities to assess the gut microbiome. Additionally, we will plan to continue to examine associations between systemic and oral bone loss as in previous ancillary studies of this cohort. Fine tuning of our aims for the planned grant is currently in progress and we will submit another proposal to AS Committee for the larger study this coming Fall before submission of the R01 grant (planning to submit in February 2013). The purpose of this current ancillary study proposal is to assess the feasibility of conducting a fifteen-year follow-up study.

Specific Aim: To conduct a feasibility study in 20 Buffalo OsteoPerio participants with a range of periodontal disease to assess the feasibility of the proposed visit (completion of questionnaires and oral health examination), collection of biologic samples (blood, saliva, oral biofilm, feces), and a DXA examination 15 years after their baseline OsteoPerio Visit.