Periodontal predicaments and associated risk factors among patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

AimThe aim of this study is to evaluate association between periodontal health including loss of connective tissue attachment with schizophrenia and to estimate the associated risk factors. MethodsA total of 156 schizophrenic patients based on ICD-10 criteria participated in the study. Dental examinations were conducted as per WHO (1997) criterion. Community Periodontal Index (CPI) and loss of connective tissue attachment (LOA) was used to assess the periodontal health. Chi Square and Mann – Whitney U test were used to compare between two or more groups for categorical and quantitative variables. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine association of independent variables with periodontal pockets and loss of attachment Significance was set at ≤ 0.05. ResultsPeriodontal pockets and loss of connective tissue attachment (LOA) were noted among 109 (69.8%) and 89 (57%) study participants respectively. Mean number of sextants with periodontal pockets were 2.76 ± 0.39 and 1.98 ± 0.45 among male and female study participants (p ≤ 0.001). Mean number of sextants with attachment loss were 1.47 ± 0.43 and 0.87 ± 0.37 respectively (p ≤ 0.001). Age, socioeconomic status, tobacco consumption, admission to psychiatric facility, duration of illness and co-morbidities were associated with periodontal pockets and loss of connective tissue attachment. ConclusionPatients with schizophrenia had poor periodontal health and were associated with high periodontal breakdown and loss of connective tissue attachment scores. Efforts need to be focused on strengthening the evidence of its association through further studies including cohort investigations. Clinical RelevanceThis is the first study to evaluate periodontal predicaments, specifically loss of connective tissue attachment among patients with schizophrenia.