Association between periodontal disease and acute myocardial infarction

Background: Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mo rtality throughout the world. Well-known risk factors independently or comb ined participate in both myocardial infarction and atherosclerosis. Recent data have shown that viral and bacterial infections may also contribute to the acute thromboembolic events. The aim of the present study was to invest igate the possible association between periodontal health and coronary hear t disease in patients with acute myocardial infarction and chronic coronary heart disease. Methods: A total of 120 patients, 60 with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and 60 with chronic coronary heart disease (CCHD) were included in this st udy. The patients in the AMI group (50 men and 10 women; mean age 53.8 +/- 9.5 years) were admitted to the Department of Cardiology, University Hospit al of Ege because of AMI. The CCHD patients group (42 men and 18 women; mea n age 58.5 +/- 11.6 years) had no documented history of recent acute corona ry events. All patients were clinically examined and completed a medical qu estionnaire. Missing teeth, restorations, probing depth (PD) and bleeding o n probing (BOP) were recorded. Blood samples were taken on admission for me asurements of serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density lipoprot ein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL -cholesterol), and fasting blood glucose level. Sample proportions were com pared by chi square test, quantitative variables with Student t test. The r elation of clinical parameters and conventional risk factors to AMI was ass essed with logistic regression analysis. Results: The number of sites with PD greater than or equal to4 mm, the perc entage of sites exhibiting BOP, smoking status, total cholesterol, LDL-chol esterol, and triglycerides were statistically different between AMI and CCH D groups (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the percentag e of sites exhibiting BOP, the number of sites with PD <greater than or equ al to>4, the number of restorations, smoking status, and triglycerides leve ls were significantly associated with AMI (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that periodontal disease ma y be associated with acute myocardial infarction. To our knowledge, this is the first study that reports the importance of periodontal health in the o ccurrence of acute myocardial infarction in a Turkish population. We propos e that prospective randomized studies are needed to determine whether perio dontal disease is a risk factor in the occurrence of acute myocardial infar ction.