A Possible Association Between Preterm Birth and Early Periodontitis: Pilot Study

Abstract

Mexican Americans are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States, and their incidence of low-birthweight (LBW) infants (less than 2500 g) reportedly is higher than for Mexican-born women. The investigators carried out a population-based study of Illinois birth certificates for singleton Mexican-American infants having Mexican-born mothers for the years 1989-1991. The goal was to determine whether the duration of generational resident in the United States correlates with pregnancy outcomes. The study population included 2203 first-generation Mexican-American women and 4192 U.S.-born, second-or higher-generation women. They were compared with 39,050 Mexican-born women.First-generation U.S.-born Mexican American women had the lowest mean infant birth weight and the highest rates of LBW and very LBW (VLBW) infants weighing less than 1500 g at birth. Birth weight patterns for second-or higher-generation Mexican-American women were similar to those of Mexican-American women. LBW infants were born to 7.5% of first-generation Mexican-American women, to 6.1% of second-or higher-generation women, and to 5.1% of Mexican-born women. The relative risk figures for having an LBW infant were 1.4 and 1.2, respectively. Among U.S.-born women having 1 or more high-risk factors (age less than 20 years; less than 12 years of education; being unmarried; high parity; inadequate prenatal care), first-generation and second-or higher-generation U.S.-born women had respective infant LBW rates of 8.3% and 6.5%. The figure for Mexican-born women was 5.2%. The respective relative risk figures were 1.6 and 1.2. No substantial differences were found in women with the lowest risk profile.These findings suggest that second-or higher-generation Mexican-American women born in the United States do not have LBW infants more often than Mexican-born women, and that the incidence approximates that of Mexican-born women across a broad range of sociodemographic features.

Periodontal disease as a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case–control studies

“…A history of previous preterm birth was controlled in only five studies [27-29, 33, 39], in seven studies it was not reported [30-32, 35, 36, 38, 42] while five studies found a significant higher incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with previous preterm birth [34,37,40,41,43]. Statistically significant differences between study groups were reported considering marital status in four studies [29,32,39,43], educational level in three studies [32,37,38], parity in one study [37], history of abortion in one study [37], smoking status in five studies [31,32,35,36,38], and alcohol misuse in one study [31].…”

“…After title and abstract examination, 392 articles were excluded because not meeting the inclusion criteria. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. A total of 10,148 subjects were included in the review.…”

“…Radnai et al [35] 2004 17 Offenbacher et al [43] 2006 United States 1,020 28.2 (6.6) * Two cases groups: mild preterm birth and extreme preterm birth ** Two control groups: indicated preterm birth and term birth *** Two control groups: undelivered and term birth **** Two groups were considered: periodontal patients and periodontally healthy people reported. Number of cases (patients who experienced preterm birth, low birth-weight or both) and healthy controls were extracted from selected studies.…”

Periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes

“…Offenbacher [44] 1996 Case-control PLBW USA, 60% black 124 Offenbacher [17] 2001 Cohort Preterm USA, 50% black 812 Jeffcoat [18] 2001 Cohort Preterm Alabama, USA, 80% black 1313 Dasanayake [31] 2001 Case-control LBW Thailand 110 Romero [45] 2002 Case-control PLBW Venezuela 69 Lopez [46] 2002 Cohort Preterm, LBW, PLBW Chile, low SES 772 Wan [47] 2002 Case-control Preterm Australia 190 Carta [48] 2004 Case-control PLBW Italy 92 Goepfert [43] 2004 Case-control Preterm Alabama, USA 139 Mokeem [49] 2004 Case-control PLBW Saudi Arabia, medium/high SES 90 Radnai [50] 2004 Case-control PLBW Hungary 85 Dortbudak [39] 2005 Cohort PLBW Austria, undergoing amniocentesis at midtrimester 36 Jarjoura [30] 2005 Case-control Preterm 60% Hispanic 203 Marin [51] 2005 Cohort LBW Brazil, low education 152 Moliterno [52] 2005 Case-control PLBW Brazil, low SES 151 Moreu [53] 2005 Cohort LBW, preterm Spain 96 PLBW, preterm low birth weight; Preterm, preterm birth; LBW, low birth weight; SES socioeconomic status. Periodontal disease, preterm birth, low birth weight, and preterm low birth weight as defined by the author.…”

Letter to the Editor

“…Probing depth ≥ 4 mm and bleeding on probing (BOP) at ≥ 50% of the teeth were examined together (Lang and Tonetti, 2003;Radnai et al, 2004). The size of the surface in the sulcus where bacteria or their products can invade the tissues is important.…”