Association between High BMI and Periodontitis using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010

Background: According to recent CDC data, almost 65 million adults in the United States aged ≥30 years exhibit some form of periodontitis. Findings from several studies suggest that high body mass index (BMI) may increase the risk for periodontitis, although findings have been inconsistent, perhaps in part due to varying definitions of periodontitis. In 2012, a new definition of periodontitis was proposed that allowed capture of previously established diagnostic criteria and was based on both clinical attachment loss and dental pocket depth. The main objective of this study was to assess, in a representative sample of U.S. adults, the association of prevalent periodontitis to BMI using the new definition of periodontitis.

Methods: Using data from the 2009-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N=3717 adults aged ≥30 years), we assessed crude and adjusted relationships between BMI (underweight/normal, overweight and obese) and periodontitis severity (none, mild, moderate, and severe) using multinomial logistic regression. Multivariate analyses were adjusted for demographic, lifestyle, and health-related factors (smoking and diabetes).

Results: Overweight (OR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.2-2.9) and obese (OR: 2.0, 95% CI 1.2-3.4) individuals were nearly twice as likely to have mild periodontitis compared to normal weight individuals after adjustment for covariates. BMI was not significantly associated with moderate or severe periodontitis.

Conclusion: Results of this cross-sectional study indicate a significant positive association between BMI and mild, but not with moderate or severe periodontitis. Additional prospective research is needed to confirm our findings and to determine the temporal nature of this association.