Prevalence of Periodontitis and Its Association with Reduced Pulmonary Function: Results from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The current study was performed to evaluate the prevalence of periodontitis and to examine the association between reduced pulmonary function and periodontitis using Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) in 2014. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional evaluation was conducted to estimate the prevalence of periodontitis and to examine the association between periodontitis and reduced pulmonary function while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and current smoking status in survey participants between 40 and 79 years old. The presence of periodontitis was evaluated by community periodontal index defined by the World Health Organization, and the assessments of reduced pulmonary function data were made as “normal,” “restrictive impairment,” or “obstructive impairment.” Results: A total of 4004 survey participants representing 25.4 million Koreans were included in the study. Overall, 41.1% of the study population were determined to have periodontitis, and 22.1% had reduced pulmonary function; 7.9% and 14.2% had restrictive- and obstructive- pulmonary impairments, respectively. Age, male gender, and current smoking status were positive predictors for periodontitis. Insurance coverage by workplace and higher education were protective factors against periodontitis. The association between periodontitis and restrictive impairment (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.059, 95% CI 0.729–1.540) or obstructive impairment (adjusted OR = 1.140, 95% CI 0.849–1.530) was not significant. Conclusions: For Koreans, 40–79 years old, age, smoking status, gender, education, and insurance coverage were significant predictors of periodontitis. The prevalence of periodontitis was not significantly associated with reduced pulmonary function. To better understand the relationship between periodontitis and reduced pulmonary function, well-designed and larger scale epidemiologic studies are needed.

The association between periodontitis and lung function: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009 to 2012

“…Jung et al 24 stated that the periodontal status was not significantly associated with COPD. A crosssectional evaluation conducted by Lee et al 23 indicated that the risk of periodontitis was not significantly associated with lung function. Bergstrom et al 40 found that COPD was not associated with the risk of impaired dental health.…”

“…[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Whereas some other studies have indicated no significant relationship between them. [23][24][25][26] The results for the association between periodontitis and lung function are not entirely consistent. Therefore, based on the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009 to 2012, we intended to investigate the association between periodontitis and lung function.…”

Association between oral health and frailty: results from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

“…The lack of association may root in using CPIs to classify periodontal status. Previous studies have reported that CPIs may not provide a whole picture of an individual’s periodontal status due to the use of index teeth as in our study where only the ten index teeth were examined at the most [ 27 – 29 ]. Moreover, because CPIs do not measure clinical attachment loss, they may underestimate the prevalence of PD [ 27 – 29 ].…”

“…Previous studies have reported that CPIs may not provide a whole picture of an individual’s periodontal status due to the use of index teeth as in our study where only the ten index teeth were examined at the most [ 27 – 29 ]. Moreover, because CPIs do not measure clinical attachment loss, they may underestimate the prevalence of PD [ 27 – 29 ]. Also, the high prevalence of PD across all levels of frailty in our study (more than 40%, in both frailty models) may have affected the results from our analyses.…”

Gut-Bone Axis: A Non-Negligible Contributor to Periodontitis

“…A heavier burden of periodontitis was found in US adults aged 65 years old and above, with 64.1% for mild/moderate periodontitis ( Eke et al., 2016 ). Korea NHANES in 2014 revealed that 41.1% of survey population aged from 40 to 79 years old suffered from periodontitis ( Lee and Lee, 2019 ). Additionally, cross-sectional studies in Norway presented that nearly 50% of population had periodontitis, with 9.1% in severe form or 20.1% in periodontitis stage III/IV ( Holde et al., 2017 ; Bongo et al., 2020 ).…”