The Effect of Metabolic Syndrome on Periodontal Disease in Korean Adults: Based on the Data from the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013∼2015)

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between metabolic syndrome and periodontal disease in Korean adults. Methods: This study analyzed the screening data of 12,686 adults aged ≥19 years, including demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, and each component of metabolic syndrome, obtained from the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database. Periodontal health status was measured by the community periodontal index. Subjects with three or more risk factors were considered as having metabolic syndrome. The Rao-Scott chi-square test was performed to assess the relationships between demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits, components of metabolic syndrome, and periodontal disease. Logistic regression analysis was performed based on the complex sample to evaluate the relationship between metabolic syndrome and periodontal disease. Results: The prevalence of periodontal disease was higher among the subjects with advancing age, lower average household income and education level, those working in production, residents of eup-myeon areas, in past or current smoker, those with excessive alcohol consumption habit in a week, and reduced brushing frequency and the use of oral care products (p<0.001). Each component of metabolic syndrome was associated with higher prevalence of periodontitis in the subjects with abnormal than in those with normal levels (p<0.001). The prevalence of periodontal disease in subjects with metabolic syndrome was approximately 1.443 times higher than that in normal subjects (odds ratio,1.443; p<0.001). Conclusion: This study confirmed the association between metabolic syndrome and periodontitis in Korean adults, and further studies will be needed to determine the causal relationship between the two conditions.