Chronic periodontitis and anaemia of chronic disease: an observational study

ABSTRACT

Anaemia of chronic disease (ACD) is caused due to an underlying chronic inflammatory process. It is not due to marrow deficiency of iron. Chronic periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory condition which has been associated with anaemia of chronic disease. The aim of this study is to estimate various hematologic parameters suggestive of ACD in patients with chronic periodontitis and in the process to establish a relation between the two. Forty patients were selected and were categorized, based on the presence and absence of chronic periodontitis, into case and control groups, with 20 subjects in each group. Hematologic evaluation was done. Complete haemogram, haematocrit, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and estimation of serum ferritin were done. An independent t-test was calculated. Statistically significant values (p<0.05) were obtained for neutrophil count, ESR, red blood cells (RBC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and serum ferritin. ESR, RBC and serum ferritin levels were significantly increased in subjects with chronic periodontitis. There were significant differences in neutrophil, ESR, RBC and serum ferritin in subjects having severe form of generalized chronic periodontitis. Thus, it was concluded that chronic generalized periodontitis, by means of an inflammatory process, influences various hematologic parameters are suggestive of anaemia of chronic disease.