Periodontal therapy reduces blood pressure, left ventricle mass, endothelial dysfunction and plasma levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin 6 and fibrinogen in refractory hypertensive patients

Submitted by Boris Flegr (boris@uerj.br) on 2021-01-07T14:56:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_FINAL_FABIO_VIDAL.pdf: 3875912 bytes, checksum: 0f9f5e639fd5d9bf8f6c664247c4e8b4 (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2021-01-07T14:56:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE_FINAL_FABIO_VIDAL.pdf: 3875912 bytes, checksum: 0f9f5e639fd5d9bf8f6c664247c4e8b4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-01-14 Recent evidences suggest that periodontal diseases may play a relevant role in the etiology and pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. The inflammatory response, and the consequent elevation of systemic markers such as C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and interleukin-6, and endothelial dysfunction, may be responsible for this association. Some studies have reported higher blood pressure levels, left ventricle mass and endothelial dysfunction in patients presenting periodontal diseases. At the same time, clinical trials have been showing that periodontal therapy can lead to the reduction of plasmatic levels of inflammatory markers and reduction of the cardiovascular risk. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of non-surgical periodontal therapy in 26 patients (mean age: 53.6±8.0 years old) diagnosed as having refractory hypertension. The study measured plasmatic markers of inflammation (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and interleukin-6), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, left ventricle mass and arterial stiffness. Periodontal therapy was effective in reducing all cardiovascular risk markers evaluated. The levels of C-reactive protein lowered 0.7mg/dl 6 months after periodontal therapy, the IL-6 levels, 1.6pg/dl and fibrinogen levels 55.3mg/dl (p