Pocket depth and bleeding on probing and their associations with dental, lifestyle, socioeconomic and blood variables: a cross-sectional, multicenter feasibility study of the German National Cohort

BACKGROUND: To investigate the periodontal disease status in a multi-center cross-sectional study in Germany. Associations of dental, socio-economic, blood and biomedical variables with periodontal outcome parameters were evaluated.

METHODS: From 4 different centers N = 311 persons were included, drawn randomly from the registration offices. Maximal pocket depth (PD) was used as primary indicator for periodontitis. It was classified as: no/mild ≤3 mm, moderate 4-5 mm, severe ≥6 mm. Associations between socioeconomic (household income, education), lifestyle, and biomedical factors and PD or bleeding on probing (BOP) per site ("Yes"/"No") was analyzed with logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: Mean age of subjects was 46.4 (range 20-77) years. A significantly higher risk of deeper pockets for smokers (OR = 2.4, current vs. never smoker) or persons with higher BMI (OR = 1.6, BMI increase by 5) was found. Severity of periodontitis was significantly associated with caries lesions (p = 0.01), bridges (p < .0001), crowns (p < .0001), leukocytes (p = 0.04), HbA1c (p < .0001) and MCV (p = 0.04). PD was positively correlated with BOP. No significant associations with BOP were found in regression analysis.

CONCLUSIONS: Earlier findings for BMI and smoking with severity of PD were confirmed. Dental variables might be influenced by potential confounding factors e.g. dental hygiene. For blood parameters interactions with unknown systemic diseases may exist.