Association of periodontal disease with stress levels and drinking frequency in adults: analysis using data from the 7th National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association of stress level and alcohol consumption with periodontal disease in adults. Methods: Data from the 7th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for this study, which included 13,199 Korean adults aged >19 years. The variables analyzed included demographic characteristics (sex and age) and socioeconomic factors (income, education, and marital status). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between periodontal disease, stress level, and drinking frequency after considering confounding factors such as income quartile and marital status. Results: After correcting for all confounding factors, the analysis showed that the group that drank more than four times a week had a 1.541 times higher risk of developing periodontal disease than the group that drank less than once a month (odds ratio [OR]=1.541, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.245-1.906, p<0.001). The prevalence of periodontal disease was higher in men, in those over 60 years of age, and in those with lower levels of education and income. Interestingly, those with lower perceived stress had a significantly higher disease prevalence (31.5%) than those with higher stress levels (28.0%; p<0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study suggested that the higher the frequency of drinking, the higher the prevalence of periodontal disease.