Periodontal infections and pre-term birth: early findings from a cohort ofyoung minority women in New York

The aim of this report is to provide early data from an ongoing study exami ning (i) the relationship between periodontal infections and pre-term low b irth weight (PLBW) in a cohort of young, minority, pregnant and post-partum women; and (ii) the effect of periodontal interventions on pregnancy outco me. During the first 2 yr of the study, 213 women were enrolled and examine d clinically for dental plaque, calculus, bleeding on probing, and probing depth. Birth outcome data were available for 164 women, including one group (n = 74) subjected to oral prophylaxis during pregnancy, and a second grou p (n = 90) who received no prenatal periodontal treatment. Subgingival plaq ue samples were available from 145 subjects (4 samples/subject) and were an alyzed by checkerboard DNA hybridization with respect to 12 bacterial speci es. The prevalence of PLBW was 16.5% (27 cases) in this cohort. No differen ces in clinical periodontal status were observed between PLBW cases and wom en with normal birth outcome. However, PLBW mothers had significantly highe r levels of Bacteroides forsythus and Campylobacter rectus, and consistentl y elevated counts for the other species examined. PLBW occurred in 18.9 % o f the women who did not receive periodontal intervention (17 cases), and in 13.5% (10 cases) of those who received such therapy.