Association between blood ethylene oxide levels and the prevalence of periodontitis: evidence from NHANES 2013-2014.

Abstract

The study aimed to establish a link between blood ethylene oxide (EO) levels and periodontitis, given the growing concern about EO's detrimental health effects. The study included 1006 adults from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset. We assessed periodontitis prevalence across groups, used weighted binary logistic regression and restricted cubic spline fitting for HbEO-periodontitis association, and employed Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves for prediction. In the periodontitis group, HbEO levels were significantly higher (40.57 vs. 28.87 pmol/g Hb, P < 0.001). The highest HbEO quartile showed increased periodontitis risk (OR = 2.88, 95% CI: 1.31, 6.31, P = 0.01). A "J"-shaped nonlinear HbEO-periodontitis relationship existed (NL-P value = 0.0116), with an inflection point at ln-HbEO = 2.96 (EO = 19.30 pmol/g Hb). Beyond this, ln-HbEO correlated with higher periodontitis risk. A predictive model incorporating sex, age, education, poverty income ratio, alcohol consumption, and HbEO had 69.9% sensitivity and 69.2% specificity. The model achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.761. These findings suggest a correlation between HbEO levels and an increased susceptibility to periodontitis.