Periodontitis as a Risk of Hospitalization and Death by SARS-CoV-2.

Abstract

We concur with the observations of Mauer et al. (2022) addressing the comparative analysis of risks of hospitalization, clinical outcomes and death due to SARS-CoV-2 in patients hospitalized in Lombardy [1]. Affordable precision/ personalized medicine which combines the patients clinical data with lab-on-a-chip biomarkers, imaging and point-of-care diagnostics is the way forward if we want to dispense quality care to patients. Among real time monitoring of COVID-19 related risk diseases, it is pertinent to monitor oral and periodontal health, when we take into perspective the probability of poor gum health contributing to the COVID-19 related hospitalization and other adverse outcomes [2][3][4].Sufficient evidence in literature underscores the importance of oral health, with emphasis on the prevention and treatment of periodontitis, linking it with many systemic diseases, and now with COVID-19 [3][4][5]. The same is suggested by the sample of 78 COVID-19 positive (delta variant) patients from India among whom patients with periodontitis were significantly more likely to need hospital admission, assisted ventilation or have COVID-19 related pneumonia than the periodontally healthy patients (p<0.05; Table 1) [3]. Further studies are warranted to address the effect of oral and periodontal health on hospitalization and death due to other COVID-19 variants.