Periodontal Disease and Vitamin D Deficiency in Pregnant Women: Which Correlation with Preterm and Low-Weight Birth?

Martina Ferrillo; Mario Migliario; Andrea Roccuzzo; Pedro Molinero-Mourelle; Giovanni Falcicchio; Giuseppina Rosaria Umano; Federica Pezzotti; Pier Luigi Foglio Bonda; Dario Calafiore; Alessandro de Sire

doi:10.3390/jcm10194578

Periodontal Disease and Vitamin D Deficiency in Pregnant Women: Which Correlation with Preterm and Low-Weight Birth?

J Clin Med. 2021 Oct 2;10(19):4578. doi: 10.3390/jcm10194578.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgical Sciences, Dental School, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy.
² Department of Translational Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, 28100 Novara, Italy.
³ Dental Clinic, University Hospital "Maggiore della Carità", 28100 Novara, Italy.
⁴ Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁶ Department of Reconstructive Dentistry and Gerodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse 7, 3010 Bern, Switzerland.
⁷ Department of Conservative Dentistry and Orofacial Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Plaza de Ramón y Cajal S/N, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
⁸ Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", 70124 Bari, Italy.
⁹ Department of Woman, Child and of General and Specialized Surgery, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", 80138 Naples, Italy.
¹⁰ Department of Neurosciences, ASST Carlo Poma, 46100 Mantova, Italy.
¹¹ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Catanzaro "Magna Graecia", 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.

Abstract

Periodontal disease seems to be correlated with low vitamin D serum levels, preterm birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW), although the literature still lacks a consensus. This study aimed to investigate this correlation in a cohort of pregnant women over 20 weeks of gestation from the University Hospital "Maggiore della Carità", Novara, Italy. We assessed serum levels of vitamin D and oral health status through the following indexes: Oral Hygiene Index (OHI), Plaque Control Record (PCR), Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI), and Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs (CPTIN). Moreover, we assessed the number of PTB and LBW among the newborns. Out of 121 pregnant women recruited, 72 (mean age 29.91 ± 3.64 years) were included. There was a statistically significant correlation between preterm and OHI > 3 (p = 0.033), and between LBW and OHI > 3 (p = 0.005) and CPITN = 3 (p = 0.027). Both pregnant women with vitamin D deficiency ((25-hydroxy-vitamin D) < 30 ng/mL) and PTB plus LBW newborns were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with poor levels of all oral health status indexes during pregnancy. Furthermore, these conditions (women with hypovitaminosis D and combination of PTB and LBW) were shown to be significantly correlated (p < 0.001). Taken together, our findings reported a high prevalence of PTB and LBW with poor oral health and vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women.

Keywords: low birth weight; oral hygiene; periodontal disease; pregnancy; preterm birth; vitamin D; vitamin D deficiency.