Association of periodontitis with leukocyte telomere length in US adults: A cross-sectional analysis of NHANES 1999 to 2002

Background This study examines the association of periodontitis with telomere length (TL) and effect modification by population characteristics. Methods We analyzed data from 3,478 participants from the 1999 to 2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Probing depth, attachment loss, and bleed on probing (BOP, available for 1,973 participants only) were examined on the distal, mesial, or mid-facial site of each tooth in two randomly selected quadrants. We defined periodontitis severity according to the Centers for Disease Control/American Academy of Periodontology guideline. TL from leukocytes was measured with qPCR. We used linear and logistic regression to examine the adjusted association of different severity of periodontitis and BOP with continuous TL (bp) and dichotomized short TL (

Automated summary

This study investigated the association between periodontitis and telomere length, considering the effect modification by population characteristics. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed to examine the relationship between periodontitis severity and bleeding on probing with telomere length. Linear and logistic regression were used to assess the adjusted association between periodontitis indicators and telomere length.