Role of gender & age in chronic periodontal disease

Abstract

There is lot of literature suggesting a gender based heterogeneity in many human chronic diseases including periodontal disease. To analyze and compare the clinical periodontal disease parameters & serum biochemical markers of periodontal inflammation in systemically healthy age stratified adult male and female patients suffering from chronic destructive periodontal disease. Cross sectional observational study in a hospital setting A total of 300 subjects, both genders were enrolled based on predefined criteria and were categorized in 6 groups of 50 subjects each. Complete medical and dental history was taken to screen before enrollment. All subjects underwent complete periodontal examination, including evaluation of Plaque index (PI), Probing pocket depth (PPD) and Clinical attachment level (CAL), Bleeding on Probing (BOP). Blood samples were taken for analysis of inflammatory biomarkers viz interleukin (IL)-1β, osteoprotegrin (OPG), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)- 8 & interleukin (IL)- 6. IBM SPSS STATISTICS (version 22.0) Clinical parameters of periodontal status were higher in females as compared to males except BOP. However, only PPD and CAL showed significant difference. Higher serum levels of IL-1β, OPG and Il-6 were observed in females (2.10 + 26.82, 168.18 + 49.84 , 29.17 + 99.20 pg/ml) than males (1.90 + 7.27 , 145.00 + 39.60 , (25.83 + 189.09pg/ml) respectively, but significant difference was observed only for OPG. A statistically significant higher level of MMP-8 was observed in males (3003.33 + 772.33 pg/ml) as compared to females (1398.33 + 1218.10 pg/ml). The findings of current investigation has identified significant differences in the clinical and specific biochemical mediators(IL-1β, IL-6, OPG, MMP-8) across groups and subgroups of the population To ascertain the impact of gender and age in the causation and pathogenesis of inflammatory periodontal disease, further well designed prospective investigations are needed . The study findings point towards the identification of specific biomarkers in individual subgroup/group based on age and gender. These shall pave path to develop predictive models, screening tools and early diagnostic strategies for chronic periodontal disease for Indian population.