Predicted vitamin D status and incidence of tooth loss and periodontitis.

What Was Tested

This observational study looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

Vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent, with particular subgroups at greater risk (e.g. the elderly and those with darker skin).

Vitamin D insufficiency may partly explain US racial/ethnic disparities in the prevalence of periodontitis and tooth loss.

The researchers evaluated the association between a predictor score of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and incidence of periodontitis and tooth loss.

Who Took Part

The study group was 42,730 participants.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, men only.

A total of 42,730 participants of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study aged 40-75 years at baseline were followed from 1986 to 2006.

How the Study Was Run

Detailed biennial questionnaires were collected on medical history, lifestyle practices and incident periodontitis and tooth loss.

The predictor score was derived from variables known to influence circulating concentrations of plasma 25(OH)D and validated against plasma concentrations among a sub-sample.

USA, representing all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Incidence, Periodontitis, Prevalence, Proportional Hazards Models, Risk Factors, Surveys and Questionnaires and Tooth Loss.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is an observational study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc in 42,730 participants.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2014 (Public health nutrition), a journal based in England.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.