Association Between Maternal Periodontal Disease and Preterm Delivery and Low Birth Weight

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the association of the maternal periodontal condition upon occurrence of preterm birth and low birth weight (PTB/LBW). Participated in this study, 236 women at an average of 25 years of age, with similar socio-economic conditions, who had given birth in public health institutions in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Maternal, obstetric and pediatric data were collected from medical records. During post-partum hospitalization, the periodontal examination was performed on full-mouth at six sites per tooth and included the clinical parameters of probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing (BOP). For the purpose of analysis, the presence of one site per tooth with PD and CAL e” 4 mm indicated a case of periodontal disease. There were no significant differences regarding analyses of variables: race, level of education, previous pre-term, diabetes, genitourinary infection, smoking habits, alcohol consumption, and periodontal disease. The chi-square test revealed a statistical significance for risk factors: hypertension (p=0.016) and consumption of illicit drugs (p=0.017). The Student t-test showed a statistical significance in age (p= 0.010). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, only the consumption of illicit drugs was significant, increasing the occurrence of PTB/ LBW from 25% to 66.7%. These results demonstrate that the maternal periodontal disease presented no statistically significant association with the occurrence of PTB/LBW (p=0.364).