title: Periodontitis is an important and occult source of inflammation in hemodialysis patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and the periodontal status of hemodialysis (HD) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  41 HD patients on rHuEPO therapy were enrolled in the study. Hematologic and biochemical parameters and CRP levels were recorded. The plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth and periodontal disease index were used to identify periodontal disease. The patients were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (n = 21), high CRP, and group 2 (n = 20), normal CRP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After periodontal therapy, while the mean CRP level and erythrocyte sedimentation rate declined from 30.46 to 10.36 (p = 0.001) and from 93.4 to 35.8 mg/l (p = 0.001), respectively, the hemoglobin level increased from 9.4 to 10.6 g/dl (p = 0.009) and hematocrit level from 28.2 to 32.0% (p = 0.008) in group 1.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Periodontitis is an important and occult source of chronic inflammation and increases the CRP levels in HD patients. Periodontitis can cause hyporesponsiveness to rHuEPO treatment and decrease the hemoglobin levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Medical Faculty, University of Dicle, Diyarbakir, Turkey. akkadiroglu@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Ali Kemal
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kadiroglu
authors.forename: Ela Tules
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Kadiroglu
authors.forename: Dede
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sit
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dag
authors.forename: M Emin
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Yilmaz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin; D002097:C-Reactive Protein