Association between oral health and acute coronary syndrome in elderly people.

UNLABELLED With the aim of contributing information to help clarify the association between oral health, periodontal disease and ischemic cardiomyopathy, a comparative study was performed on hospitalized patients with and without acute coronary syndrome (ACS), evaluating atherogenic risk factors (ARF), level of oral hygiene and dental and periodontal health status. The study included patients in the coronary unit with ACS and patients in regular floor bed without evidence of cardiovascular pathology at Hospital Español, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The following ARFs were analyzed for all patients: hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and smoking. The clinical dental examination included recording dental charts and variables related to oral hygiene, epidemiological indices and diagnosis of periodontal disease. The data collected were used to compare the ACS Group to the Control Group regarding prevalence of the ARFs and clinical dental variables studied. A total of 146 patients were studied: 81 male and 65 female, with average age 69.8 +/- 10.14 years. Prevalence of hypercholesterolemia was found to be significantly higher in patients in the ACS group than in the control group (p = 0.043). The other ARFs considered did not differ. The levels of oral hygiene were similar in both study groups. The prevalence of decayed and filled teeth was similar in both groups, although there was a significantly higher number of missing teeth in the ACS group (p < 0.001). Patients with ACS had more severe periodontal disease and higher levels of gingival inflammation than the control group (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Oral health of patients with ACS was worse than oral health of patients without cardiovascular disease. The difference was shown by greater severity of periodontal disease in patients with ACS even though the level of oral hygiene was similar in both groups.