Oral Diseases Associated with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in the United States.

The US prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is 30.6% and increasing. NAFLD shares some risk factors with periodontitis and dental caries. We explored the association between NAFLD and several oral conditions among US adults, using data from the cross-sectional, nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1988 to 1994. NAFLD was assessed with ultrasonography (USON), the screening gold standard not available in the more recent NHANES, and the noninvasive Fibrosis Score (FS), Fatty Liver Index (FLI), and US Fatty Liver Index (US-FLI) as other screening alternatives. There were 5,421 eligible dentate adults aged 21 to 74 y with complete relevant data, with transferrin levels ≤50%, without hepatitis B or C, who were not heavy drinkers. Multivariable models were developed to examine the independent effects of moderate-severe periodontitis, untreated dental caries, caries experience, and tooth loss (<20 teeth) on NAFLD while controlling for clinical, biological, and sociodemographic factors. Weighted estimates for odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were calculated with logistic regression. Between 17% and 24% of adults had NAFLD depending on the classification criteria. In adjusted models, as compared with those with better oral health, adults with <20 teeth were more likely to have NAFLD depending on the measure (USON: OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.11 to 2.02; FS: OR = 4.36, 95% CI = 3.47 to 5.49; FLI: OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.52 to 2.59; US-FLI: OR = 2.32, 95% CI = 1.79 to 3.01). People with moderate-severe periodontitis were more likely to have NAFLD (USON: OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.06 to 2.24; FS: OR = 3.10, 95% CI = 2.31 to 4.17; FLI: OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.13 to 2.28; US-FLI: OR = 2.21, 95% CI = 1.64 to 2.98). People with any untreated caries were more likely to have NAFLD (USON: OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.20 to 1.90; FLI: OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.33 to 2.44). NAFLD was associated with tooth loss, periodontitis, and, for some NAFLD measures, untreated dental caries but not overall caries experience after controlling for several key sociodemographic and behavioral factors. Results suggest that further evaluation is needed to better understand this health-oral health interrelationship and potential opportunities for medical-dental integration.

Lung transplantation in children following bone marrow transplantation: a multi-center experience.

Allogenic BMT has been successfully performed as a treatment for hematologic diseases with an expected long-term survival. This survival is truncated by respiratory complications including airway obstruction especially BO. Chronic GVHD has been reported to precede almost all cases reported. LTx has become a therapeutic life-saving option for patients with end-stage lung disease that maybe offered for the treatment of GVHD. We report a multi-center experience of pediatric LTx following BMT in 11 patients age- and gender-matched with 11 controls who received LTx for end-stage lung disease secondary to CF. Overall death was 36.4% over a follow-up period of 19 months (range 3-36 months) for the cases and 27.3% for the control group followed for 17 months (range 8-32 months). Median FEV1 one yr post-transplant for the cases was 78% predicted compared with 67.3% predicted for the controls. The median for episodes of infection was comparable at a median of one episode per patient through the entire follow-up period among both groups. Acute rejection episodes were significantly higher in the control group with a median of one episode per patient in the control group compared to none within the cases. Our data suggest that LTx may be a valuable therapeutic option for children with end-stage lung disease post-BMT with comparable survival outcome to that after LTx in children for other indications such as CF. Hospital stay was significantly longer in our case group. Infection rate was comparable between groups albeit type of infection varied. Significantly and of interest is that acute rejection episodes were non-existent in these cases.