Association of light BioAge with edentulism risk in middle-aged and elderly people: a retrospective cohort study

Aging is an important cause of tooth loss in the elderly. This study aimed to explore the association between light BioAge, a novel biological aging assessment metric, and the risk of edentulism in middle-aged and elderly populations. Adults aged ≥ 45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011–2018 were included in this retrospective cohort study. The light BioAge was computed as: Age + 8.3313 × Creatinine + 0.8270 × Glucose + 5.7305 × Log (CRP)—13.5298, where CRP is C-reactive protein. The associations between light BioAge and light BioAgeDiff (light BioAge minus age) and edentulism risk were analyzed by Cox regression analysis. Subgroup analyses for populations with different characteristics were performed. Among the 9,985 individuals included at baseline without edentulism, 1,423 (14.25%) developed edentulism during follow-up. Higher BioAge was related to an elevated risk of edentulism per 1-SD (standard deviation) increase in BioAge [HR = 1.50 (95%CI: 1.41–1.61)]. Compared with light BioAge < 45.53 years (tertiles), individuals with light BioAge of 45.53–54.78 years [HR = 1.61 (95%CI: 1.34–1.93)] and ≥ 54.78 years [HR = 2.36 (95%CI: 1.88–2.98)] had a higher risk of edentulism. Light BioAgeDiff ≥ 0 was also associated with a higher risk of edentulism [HR = 1.51 (95%CI: 1.20–1.91)] compared to those with light BioAgeDiff < 0. A high BioAge was associated with an elevated risk of edentulism among middle-aged and elderly people, especially for individuals whose light BioAge exceeds their chronological age.