Aim

To examine the association between asthma and periodontitis in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States.

Materials and Methods

Data obtained from 10,710 adult men and women who participated in National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey from 2009 to 2014 were analysed. Asthma was measured based on self-reported physician diagnosis. Periodontitis was the outcome of interest. It was classified into mild, moderate, and severe periodontitis according to the updated CDC/AAP case definitions. Multivariable models were developed to examine the association of asthma with periodontitis while controlling for age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, income, body mass index, diabetes, and smoking. Odds ratio (OR) and respective 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Replication was performed by differently classifying the outcome using another system called periodontal profile class (PPC).

Results

Current asthmatics, in reference to never asthmatics, had lower odds of severe periodontitis [(adjusted OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.30–0.87) and (adjusted OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.35–0.97) as classified using CDC/AAP case definitions and PPC system, respectively]. However, there was no statistically significant association between asthma and any other forms of periodontitis (p value >.05).

Conclusions

In the United States, current-asthmatic adults were less likely to have severe periodontitis as compared with never-asthmatic adults. Further research is required to fully understand this association.