NEUTROPHIL ELASTASE IN CREVICULAR FLUID - COMPARISON OF A MIDDLE-AGEDGENERAL-POPULATION WITH HEALTHY AND PERIODONTITIS GROUPS

Neutrophil elastase (NE) was measured in crevicular fluid (GCF) collec ted from 3 subject groups. GCF was harvested at a single visit of subj ects with periodontal health (n=21) and with periodontitis (n=28). Sam ples were obtained from 132 middle-aged, middle-class health conscious patients of a health maintenance organization (HMO) at baseline and 1 year later. GCF NE was higher in periodontitis than in health. Mean G CF NE of HMO subjects was much closer to health than to periodontitis. Few members of the HMO population had enzyme levels typical of period ontitis. Subjects and sites of the HMO population were segregated into 3 categories based on enzyme levels of the healthy and periodontitis subjects. Most HMO subjects and sites were in the activity category co rresponding to healthy subjects. Only a small portion were in the acti vity category common in periodontitis. Enzyme levels in the highest ac tivity category at both samplings were infrequent. High enzyme levels in the HMO population were not associated with attachment loss. Thus, assay of GCF NE provided little evidence of disease in a middle-aged, middle-class health conscious general population. This finding confirm s an analysis of epidemiological surveys which concluded that a popula tion such as studied here would not benefit from periodontal diagnosti c testing.