Association between inflammatory potential of diet and periodontitis disease risks: Results from a Korean population‐based cohort study

Abstract

Abstract Aim To examine the association between a pro‐inflammatory diet, estimated using the energy‐adjusted dietary inflammatory index (E‐DII), and the risk of periodontitis. Materials and Methods Study subjects from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study Health Examinee (KoGES_HEXA) cohort were included for cross‐sectional analysis ( n = 168,378) using multivariate logistic regression and prospective analysis ( n = 160,397) using Cox proportional hazard models respectively. DII and E‐DII scores were calculated based on the intake reported on a validated semi‐quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQ‐FFQ). Results Cox proportional hazard models revealed a significantly increased risk of incident periodontitis in individuals consuming high E‐DII (more pro‐inflammatory) diets in the total population (HR quartile4vs1 = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.13–1.48; p trend <.001) and in both men (HR quartile4vs1 = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.07–1.73; p trend = 0.02) and women (HR quartile4vs1 = 1.27; 95% CI: 1.08–1.50; p trend = .002). The association remained significant even after excluding cases diagnosed early in the follow‐up. In the cross‐sectional analysis, a significant association was observed between the E‐DII score and the prevalence of periodontitis among all study subjects (OR quartile4vs1 = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.03–1.34; p trend = 0.01) and men (OR quartile4vs1 = 1.28; 95%CI: 1.01–1.63; p trend <.001); however, the association did not reach statistical significance in women (OR quartile4vs1 = 1.13; 95% CI: 0.96–1.33; p trend <.001). Conclusions Findings from the current study support the hypothesis that diets with high pro‐inflammatory potential increase the risk of periodontitis.