Healthy lifestyle and periodontitis: a multi-omics cross-sectional study in a Chinese cohort

Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between an overall healthy lifestyle and periodontitis in a Chinese population. We further sought to explore the features of lifestyle-related oral microbiota, gut microbiota and plasma metabolome in relation to periodontitis. Design: This cross-sectional study included 2,182 Chinese adults from the Lanxi cohort. The overall lifestyle assessment included waist circumference, smoking status, drinking status, physical activity and diet. Periodontitis was diagnosed in accordance with the criteria of the American Academy of Periodontology. 16S rRNA sequencing was used to analyze the oral and gut microbiota, while an untargeted metabolome was employed for plasma metabolite profiling. Results: Participants with a healthy lifestyle had a lower prevalence of periodontitis than those with an unhealthy lifestyle (adjusted OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59-0.96). Significant differences were observed in oral microbiota, gut microbiota and plasma metabolome between participants in the healthy and unhealthy lifestyle groups. Further analysis identified 12 lifestyle-related oral microbial genera, 12 gut microbial genera and 10 plasma metabolites, suggesting potential biological links between lifestyle and periodontal health. Conclusions: These findings suggest a potential association between a healthy lifestyle and periodontitis, with the oral and gut microbiota and plasma metabolome potentially involved.