Association of preterm low-birth-weight infants and maternal periodontitis during pregnancy: An interventional study

The impact of periodontal disease during pregnancy and its effect on adverse pregnancy outcomes is seen in the literature. When it comes to the link of disease related to periodontium to that of adverse pregnancy outcomes, a need can arise if a significant cause-effect relationship does exist or not between them.

The study was aimed to determine the association of periodontal health status in pregnant women with the occurrence of preterm low birth weight (LBW) infants in Vadodara, Gujarat.

An interventional study with 100 patients was conducted, of which 67 participants were included in the control group and 33 participants were included in the intervention group. A total of 12 participants dropped out from the study and 88 were analyzed for the outcome.

The Community periodontal Index of Treatment needs index was taken for all enrolled participants and then were divided into interventional group and control group. Participants in the interventional group underwent scaling and root planning. Data related to the time of delivery and weight of the baby was taken from the hospital records.

A comparison of baseline characteristics was made using unpaired t-test. Chi-square test was used for the analysis of intergroup comparison. The odds ratio and the relative risk calculation were also done. P ≤ 0.05 was considered for statistical significance.

The odds ratio for both preterm and LBW were 3.86 times and 2.96, respectively. The Chi-square statistical test analysis was statistically significant for both preterm and LBW infants on the intergroup comparison.

Periodontal disease can be considered as one of the risk factors for preterm LBW babies as not only the presence of disease condition causes an increase in inflammatory mediator but also the elimination of the disease condition reduces the adverse pregnancy outcomes.