Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recent studies have reported an association between periodontitis and cardiovascular diseases. Atherosclerosis is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. IL-6 and CRP are important inflammatory markers that are important because they have been shown to be higher when a patient has periodontitis, and they are related to atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between periodontitis and CRP and IL-6 in atherosclerotic patients. METHODS: The study population in this case control study was atherosclerotic patients in Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2014. The participants included 30 individuals with periodontal diseases and 30 individuals without periodontal diseases, and they were allocated into two groups according to probe depth (PD) and clinical attachment loss (CAL). Inflammatory markers, including CRP and IL-6 were measured in the two groups. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 21 statistical software. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared, independent samples t-test, and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Individuals with abnormal CRP had significantly higher PD and CAL than individuals with normal CRP (P<0.001). Although PD was not significantly different in individuals with normal and abnormal IL-6 (P=0.124), CAL was significantly higher in individuals with abnormal IL-6 than in the other individuals (P=0.005). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that CRP and IL-6 are associated with periodontal diseases in atherosclerotic patients. Treatment of periodontal diseases is recommended in atherosclerotic patients.