%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluation of the Periodontal Status in Acromegalic Patients: A Comparative Study
%A Ali N. Harb
%A Birte Holtfreter
%A Nele Friedrich
%A Henri Wallaschofski
%A Matthias Nauck
%A Thomas Kocher
%J ISRN Dentistry
%D 2012
%R 10.5402/2012/950486
%X Aim. The aim was to compare the periodontal status of the acromegalic patients with healthy subjects from a large population-based cohort (Study of Health in Pomerania, SHIP). Materials and Methods. We studied 32 acromegalic patients (16 females) and 128 randomly selected SHIP subjects (controls) using a 1£¿:£¿4 matching. Serum IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels were measured using the Immulite 2500 system. Periodontitis was assessed by clinical attachment loss (CAL), probing depth (PD), and number of missing teeth. Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess differences in periodontal variables between acromegalic patients and controls. Results. IGF-I levels were comparable in acromegalic patients and controls, whereas IGFBP-3 levels were significantly higher in acromegalic patients ( ). In multivariate modelling, both groups did not differ significantly with respect to mean CAL ( ) and high tooth loss ( ). Mean PD was higher in acromegalic patients by trend ( (£¿0.00; 0.56)). Conclusion. In acromegalic patients, periodontal disease severity did not differ from their healthy SHIP controls. 1. Introduction Periodontitis is considered the most common chronic infection in adults. It is an inflammatory disease, which results in alveolar bone loss and degeneration of periodontal tissues [1]. Periodontitis is the leading cause of tooth loss in subjects aged 40+ years [2]. Acromegaly is a chronic disease characterized by an acquired progressive somatic deformity, mainly involving the face and extremities [3]. In more than 95% of the cases, acromegaly is caused by a benign pituitary adenoma which develops from the somatotropic cells, leading to hypersecretion of growth hormone (GH) and subsequently to elevated serum levels of insulin-like growth factor hormone-I (IGF-I) [4, 5]. IGF-I is a polypeptide hormone, which is mainly secreted by the liver as a result of stimulation by growth hormones (GH) and mediates most of the endocrine actions of GH [6]. It plays an important anabolic rule in the periodontal ligament and contributes to the regeneration of lost periodontal tissue [7, 8]. Over 90% of IGF-I is bound to IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) [9]. IGFBP-3 is also found to be increased in patients with acromegaly [3, 10]. Free serum IGF-I is considered the biologically active form of IGF-I [11]. Because of the slow onset and the development of symptoms and because many general practitioners are unfamiliar with acromegaly, there is usually a delay of 7¨C10 years between beginning of the first symptoms and the diagnosis of the disease at an average age of about
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.dentistry/2012/950486/