title: Prevalence and risk indicators for attachment loss in an urban population of South India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence and severity of attachment loss in an urban population of South India and to determine related risk indicators.
  
  
  METHODS
  This population based cross sectional study used a subset of data from a large survey representative of urban population from Chennai city. The sample consisted of 900 subjects in the age range of 17 years to 87 years. Participants were interviewed using a structured proforma and subjected to a full mouth clinical examination of six sites per tooth. The prevalence of clinical attachment level (CAL) and association with various risk indicators was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of the 900 subjects examined, 868 (96.4%) had CAL <5 mm and 32 (3.6%) had CAL ≥ 5 mm. Age, smoking, poor oral hygiene were found to be independent risk indicators for CAL (p<0.05). Smoking (pack years) was found to exhibit a dose response effect with CAL (Kendall's Tau coefficient = 0.098) (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this urban population, a low prevalence of CAL ≥ 5 mm was observed. Amongst the risk indicators evaluated, age, smoking and poor oral hygiene contribute significantly to attachment loss.
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head of Department, Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra University, No.1 Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Tel: +91-44-24769816, Extn - 8256; e-mail: chennaidentist@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Suresh Ranga
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thanikachalam
authors.forename: B W C S
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Sathiyasekaran
authors.forename: Lavu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vamsi
authors.forename: Thodur Madapusi
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Balaji
authors.forename: Raghunathan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jagannathan