05 May 2020

---

Systemic medications intake and periodontitis

Giulia Palandrani

---

The association between systemic diseases (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus (DM), rheumatoid arthritis, metabolic syndrome...) and periodontits has been widely investigated.  However, little is known regarding the systemic medications taken by patients with chronic periodontits.
The case-control study conducted by Wang et al. investigates the frequency and types of systemic medications taken by elderly patients with or without periodontits and the possible association between systemic medications intake frequency and the severity of periodontits.  

Material and methods  
 The patients had the following inclusion criteria:     
- minimum age of 40 years old;
- patients with diagnosis of generalized moderate to severe chronic periodontits at the baseline were included in the “case” group; 
- individuals with healthy periodontal condition to mild periodontits  (PD of all teeth ≤4 mm) were included in the “control” group.
- at least 20 remaining teeth.
Demographic information (age, gender), self‐reported history of systemic diseases and oral intake of systemic medications taken over >3 months were recorded in both groups.  

Results    
Demographic characteristics, including age, and gender distribution, were similar between the “case” periodontits and “control” healthy groups. The three most common systemic medications found in both groups were angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors for cardiovascular diseases (17.9%), antidepressants (17.8%) and lipid‐lowering (16.5%).  
The results demonstrated that the prevalence of systemic medications for cardiovascular diseases (including calcium channel blockers and diuretics), diabetes (insulin and hypoglycemics) and antidepressant/antipsychotic drugs were significantly higher in the periodontits group.
On the contrary, anticoagulants, lipid‐lowering and bronchodilators have a  significantly lower intake frequency in the periodontits group compared with the healthy group.    

Conclusions  
This study shows an indirect implication for the association between periodontits  and multiple systemic diseases, A significantly higher frequency of systemic medications intake related to cardiovascular disease and diabetes has been highlighted in patients with periodontits.  

For additional information: Association between periodontitis and systemic medications intake: A case‐control study.