Evaluation of Haematological Changes in Patients with Chronic Periodontitis & Gingivitis in Comparison to Healthy Controls - A Clinical Study

Background: The role of periodontal diseases in influencing the systemic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases andpulmonary diseases has been reported. Aim: The current study was carried out to evaluate the differences in levels of the components of peripheral blood in patients with chronic periodontitis and gingivitis and compare it with healthy controls. Methods and Materials: Atotal of 62 patients, 31 male and 31 female, were divided into 3 groups namely; healthy controls (10 male, 8 female), gingivitis (10 male, 9 female) and chronic periodontitis (11 male, 14 female) and were evaluated for haemoglobin percentage, red blood cell count, haematocrit, erythrocyte sedimentationrate, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, total leukocyte count, neutrophil,lymphocyte, monocyte and eosinophil percentages. Statistical tools used: Two factor ANOVAand Scheffe′s Post Hoc test Results: The mean red blood cell counts and haematocrit were lower in female patients with periodontitis as compared to the healthy female patients and females patients with gingivitis. The haemoglobin percentage, haematocrit and mean corpuscular haemoglobin showed significant differences between thegingivitis and periodontitis groups (p<0.05). Total leukocyte counts, lymphocyte and monocyte percentage counts were significantly differentbetween the healthy and periodontitis groups. The neutrophil counts were significantly different between healthy and gingivitis groups (p<0.05).Conclusion:The results indicate that chronic periodontitis may alter the levels of the components of the peripheral blood