General health status of a sample of patients with periodontitis in a Spanish university dental clinic: A case-control study.

Abstract

Background: During the past years, a bidirectional relationship has been proved between periodontitis and some systemic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The aim of this study was to compare the general health status between patients with and without periodontitis from a Spanish university dental clinic.

Material and methods: A retrospective observational case-control study was conducted to achieve the research objective. The random sampling was extracted from the patients who attended to the university dental clinic between January 2017 and December 2020.

Results: A total of 2,714 (44.6% males and 55.4% females, 49 [38-60] years old) were included: 1,363 cases (patients with periodontitis; 47.2% males and 52.8% females; 54.6 ± 13.4 years old) and 1,351 controls (patients without periodontitis; 41.9% males and 58.1% females; 44.2 ± 13.4 years old). Patients with periodontitis had lower oral hygiene habits than controls: the 28.9% vs 7.0% (p-value <0.001) brushed their teeth once a day, 94.9% vs 69.6% (p-value <0.001) did not use interproximal cleaning. 31.0% of periodontal patients were smokers vs 21.2% of the control group (p-value <0.001). 51.8% of patients with periodontitis were taking medication vs 31.2% of the controls (p-value <0.001). Regarding their general health status, 8.2% periodontitis patients had DM vs 3.9% of the controls (p-value <0.001) and 21.3% of the cases suffered from high blood pressure (HBP) vs 10.6% (p-value <0.001). In addition, a multivariable regression analysis was performed, where the variables with more strength were age, number of cigarettes and oral hygiene habits.

Conclusions: In the present research, statistically significant differences have observed between patients with and without periodontitis, regarding medication, health problems such as DM, HBP, CVD and cholesterol. Key words:Periodontitis, systemic diseases, health status, university dental clinic.