The association of work physical activity and recreational physical activity with periodontitis in the NHANES (2009–2014)

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to investigate the association between different types and intensity of physical activities (PA) and periodontitis in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States. Methods The data of periodontal condition and PA of 10,714 individuals were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2009 to 2014 and the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). The association between the prevalence of periodontitis and two PAs (work PA and recreational PA) was respectively analyzed and adjusted by uni‐ and multi‐variable logistic regression models. The odd ratios (ORs), adjusted odd ratios (OR ad ), and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated as the main outcome indicators. Results After adjusted by age, sex, race, poverty‐income ratio (PIR), diabetes, smoking status, alcohol use, and floss frequency, moderate and vigorous work PAs were significantly correlated with higher odds of periodontitis (OR ad = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.02–1.46; OR ad = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.04–1.89, respectively) while moderate and vigorous recreational PAs were correlated with lower odds of periodontitis (OR ad = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.69–0.95; OR ad = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.43–0.71, respectively). Conclusions Work PAs and recreational PAs have opposite associations on the prevalence of developing periodontitis and their aggravating or protective associations enhance with the increase of intensity.