title: Coronary heart disease and periodontitis -- a case control study in Chilean adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between periodontal disease parameters and coronary ischemic disease among 30-50-year-old Chileans.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cases were 30-50-year-olds who were hospitalized in one of four Cardiologic Units in Santiago, Chile, for acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina or angina pectoris. Controls had undergone surgery due to gall bladder stones or abdominal hernia. Information on blood pressure, serum cholesterol, body weight and height, age, occupation, smoking, diabetes and use of antidepressants was obtained. A total of 86 persons participated based on informed consent, but the analysis is based on 61 persons, for whom a complete set of data was obtained. Cases and controls were given a clinical periodontal examination comprising assessment of number of teeth present, periodontal pocket depth and clinical attachment level at six sites per tooth. The association between mean attachment level; mean pocket probing depth; number of teeth present and case status was analyzed by conditional logistic regression controlling for known risk factors for CHD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean attachment level was positively associated with case status (OR = 3.17; 95% CI = [1.31; 7.65]), as was the mean pocket depth (OR = 8.64; 95% CI = [1.22; 61.20]). The number of teeth present was not statistically significantly associated with case status (OR = 0.93; 95% CI = [0.83; 1.04]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results are in accordance with those of several previous reports. If the results reflect a causal link between periodontal diseases and CHD they emphasize the need for better control of periodontal diseases. If the associations are-non-causal, they still demonstrate that CHD and periodontal diseases cluster in the same sections of the population, which is important from a public health point of view.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark. rlopez@odont.au.dk
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oyarzún
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Naranjo
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cumsille
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.forename: Vibeke
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Baelum
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000150:complications; D000789:Angina, Unstable / Q000150:complications; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015984:Causality; D002677:Chile; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications*; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000150:complications; D009790:Occupations; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017622:Periodontal Attachment Loss / Q000150:complications; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000150:complications; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000150:complications*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D002784:Cholesterol