The association between maternal periodontitis and low birth weight infants among Malay women

OBJECTIVES: Maternal periodontitis has been suggested as one of the risk factors for low birth weight (LBW) infants. The objective of this study was to determine the association between maternal periodontitis and LBW infants among Malay women.

METHODS: Screening periodontal examinations were carried out on all eligible Malay pregnant women in the second trimester of pregnancy attending two randomly selected community maternal and child health clinics in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Patients with four or more sites with pocket depth 4 mm or higher, and clinical attachment loss 3 mm or higher at the same site with presence of bleeding on probing were diagnosed as having periodontitis in this study. Using this definition, systematic random sampling was utilized for selection of 250 subjects for each exposed and non-exposed group. Of 500 subjects enrolled in the study, 28 (5.6%) were either dropped or lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 472 subjects, 232 with periodontitis were in the exposed group and 240 with healthy periodontium were in the nonexposed group.

RESULTS: The incidence of LBW was 14.2% (95% CI: 9.70-18.75) in women with periodontitis, and 3.3% (95% CI: 1.05-5.62) in women without periodontitis. The relative risk of having LBW infants was 4.27 times higher for women with periodontitis compared with those without periodontitis (95% CI: 2.01-9.04). After adjustment for potential confounders using multiple logistic regression analysis, significant association was found between maternal periodontitis and LBW (OR = 3.84; 95% CI: 1.34-11.05).

CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide additional evidence that pregnant women with periodontitis are at a significantly higher risk of delivering LBW infants.