The association between dental status and systemic lipid profile and inflammatory mediators in patients after myocardial infarction

Abstract

Background. Many epidemiological studies have proven that local infection may influence the levels of systemic lipid profile and inflammatory mediators. Objectives. The aim of this research was to evaluate the association between the state of the oral cavity, lipids and inflammatory mediator concentrations in Poles after acute myocardial infarction (MI). Material and Methods. A total of 134 subjects with a mean age of 54.3 years (± 8.1) were included in the study. Sociodemographic and cardiologic variables were gathered. Subsequently, serum samples were collected for estimation of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), fibrinogen and white blood cell counts (WBC). The periodontal parameters measured included bleeding on probing index (BoP), pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), the number of bleeding periodontal pockets (bPP) and the number of lost teeth. Results. Overall, patients shared high levels of periodontal inflammation and tissue breakdown. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant association between the serum concentration of LDL-C and bPP (standardized coefficient b = 0.3179; p = 0.0009) and PD (b = 0.3186; p = 0.0015); the level of fibrinogen and the number of lost teeth (b = 0.3669; p = 0.0013); WBC and bPP (b = 0.2726; p = 0.0035) independent of age, sex, income, education, atherosclerotic disease in the family, tobacco smoking, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus and BMI. No correlations were found regarding hsCRP serum concentration. Conclusions. To our knowledge, this study demonstrated for the first time that local inflammatory processes in the oral cavity are positively associated with the systemic levels of LDL-C, fibrinogen and WBC in adult Poles. This may underscore relationships between periodontitis and MI as well as potentially impinge on atherosclerotic processes and MI prognosis.