Abstract
Background and aims. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a well-known acute-phase reactant produced by
the liver in response to inflammation caused by various stimuli. Periodontal disease is a chronic infection
of tooth-supporting structures characterized by attachment loss and alveolar bone loss. The aim of
this study was to assess the relationship between serum C-reactive protein levels and periodontal diseases.
Materials and methods. The study was conducted on 166 patients referring to Tabriz Faculty of
Dentistry. The age range was between 35 and 59 years. 83 subjects with periodontitis according to
NHANES III index as test group and 83 healthy individuals as controls participated in this study. Body
mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), probing depth, attachment loss and CRP levels were
measured in both test and control groups. Data was analyzed with Student’s t-test, odds ratio (OR), Chisquare
test and Spearman’s correlation coefficient, using SPSS 13.0 software.
Results. The results revealed a statistically significant difference between all of the analyzed variables
in test and control groups (P < 0.05). Classifying the test subjects into two subgroups (subjects with
CRP ≥ 3 mg/l and subjects with CRP < 3 mg/l), the highest OR in females belonged to WC (OR = 6.4;
95% CI: 1.18-35.2, P = 0.02) and in males to obesity (OR = 4.8; 95% CI: 0.65-35.19, P = 0.05). Considering
the correlation between obesity, overweight, WC and CRP with probing depth and attachment loss
denoted that obesity presented the highest (r = 1, P = 0.00) and overweight the lowest (r = 0.4, P = 0.07)
association. In females, CRP was related to the severity of periodontitis and attachment loss (r = 0.662,
P = 0.00). Excluding overweight, the association between all the variables was statistically significant (P
< 0.05).
Conclusion. Our findings indicate that periodontal disease is correlated with CRP elevation and diseases
associated with obesity