IS THERE AN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PERIODONTAL CONDITION AND HIV-INFECTION

Individuals in Tanzania who have limited access to medical and dental treatment provide an opportunity to study the natural association betw een periodontal condition and HIV infection and the stage of infection . 119 HIV-infected adult individuals and 73 Individuals with AIDS from the AIDS Clinical Trial Clinic at Muhimbili Medical Centre (MMC) in D ar-es-Salaam participated as cases, Mean age was 35.3 and 35.1 years, respectively 156 individuals with a mean age of 28.3 years, confirmed as HIV-seronegative, served as controls. There were no significant dif ferences in bleeding on probing, pocket formation or attachment loss a mong the HIV-seronegative individuals, HIV-seropositive and AIDS patie nts, We applied multiple logistic regression to calculate odds ratios for presence of periodontal conditions adjusting for age, gender and D MFT. Our odds ratios did not reveal any significant associations betwe en bleeding on probing, pocket formation or attachment loss with regar d to lymphocyte and CD4+ T-cell counts among the HIV-infected individu als and AIDS patients, When associations were investigated with regard to HIV-serostatus (HIV-seronegative, HIV-seropositive or AIDS), our a djusted odds ratios were insignificant, too, In fact, most odds ratios were close to 1. Thus, our study supports recent views that the prese nce, extent and severity of periodontal disease among HIV-infected ind ividuals, may be less that hitherto thought.