Association between vitamin K intake and periodontitis in American elderly population: a cross-sectional analysis of NHANES data.

Background: An increasing amount of data has been acquired on the close relationship between Vitamin K intake and the progression of periodontitis. The purpose of this study was to estimate whether Vitamin K intake is associated with periodontitis among older adults in America using information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of data on periodontal indices and vitamin K intake among American adults aged 60 years and older in the 2009-2014 NHANES database was extracted. Periodontitis was defined according to CDC/AAP criteria, classification of periodontitis and severity of periodontitis according to the degree and amount of attachment loss in the interproximal site, and vitamin K intake was categorized using optimal cutoff value. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association between vitamin K intake and the risk of periodontitis.

Results: Based on the information analysis of 2303 participants who met the inclusion criteria, the risk of periodontitis was lower in the elderly population with higher vitamin K intake. Especially, a statistically significant reduction in the prevalence of periodontitis was observed in elderly populations with vitamin K intake greater than 89.51 mg/d (OR = 0.648,95%Cl = 0.502-0.837, P value = 0.001) compared to those with vitamin K intake less than 89.51 mg/d. Subgroup analyses revealed that this association was more prominent in elderly people aged 60-69 years and 70-79 years, the female/male population, the Non-Hispanic White population, those with a poverty index of 1.3-3.5, education level over high school grad/GED, non-smokers, 1-5 drinks/month, non-alcohol drinkers, overweight, normal blood pressure and without diabetes.

Conclusion: Our research found a strong relationship between vitamin K intake and periodontitis among elderly people in the United States, suggesting vitamin K intake is a possible risk factor and may be a novel idea for the diagnosis and treatment of periodontitis.