Food & Nutrition

Arab Journal of Food & Nutrition
100. The Risk of Periodontitis in Overweight and Obese Adults (2008)
Toleen Fawzi Haroun\ Jordan University of Science & Technology
Supervisor: Dr. Hiba Ahmad Bawadi
Co-Supervisor: Dr. Yousef Saleh Khader
Background: Overweight and obesity affect a large proportion of the population
in developed and developing countries, and its prevalence has increased globally in
recent years. Obesity has been recognized as a major health problem, and evidence
exist of its role as a major risk factor of many diseases. A relationship between
periodontal disease and obesity has been suggested in recent reports, Only limited
number of studies used several indicators of obesity and overweight; i.e., body mass
index, body fat percentage, waist circumference (WC), and waist to hip ratio (WHR).
Methods: the sample included 340 participants, aged l8 to 70 years, who received
a periodontal examination and had complete information for age, sex, health history
and smoking habits. Anthropometric measures were taken for all participants
including, weight, height, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio.
Results: periodontitis affected 105 out of the 340 participants (32%among males
and 29.7% among females). After adjusting for age, plaque index and number of
missing teeth it was found that the odds of periodontitis had increased 3 times in obese
when compared to those of normal weight. The study showed that WC was
significantly associated with periodontitis, unlike the WHR.
Conclusion: obesity was significantly associated with periodontitis in adults,
unlike overweight that was not significantly associated with periodontitis.
280
Volume 11, No. 25, 2011
281