Association of periodontal inflammation, systemic inflammation, and duration of menopausal years in postmenopausal women

Objective: The influence of menopause on vascular inflammation and systemic bone loss has been documented. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess the periodontal status, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (HsCRP) level, and estrogen level in women with early menopause and women with normal menopause. Method and Materials: A total of 103 participants comprising normal menopausal women (n = 53) and early menopausal women (n = 50) were examined. Periodontal parameters, anthropometric parameters, and metabolic parameters including serum levels of HsCRP and estrogen were recorded. Results: Women with early menopause (age 49.02 ± 2.70 years, postmenopausal period 5.86 ± 2.48 years) had higher clinical attachment loss (CAL) and HsCRP along with increased sites with bleeding on probing (BOP) as compared with normal menopausal women (age 50.56 ± 1.94 years; postmenopausal period 2.03 ± 1.15). On partial correlation analysis after controlling for age, Plaque Index (PI), and body mass index (BMI), CAL correlated positively and significantly with HsCRP and duration of menopause (P = .000), and negatively with estradiol in pooled data. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that CAL (dependent variable) has significant association with HsCRP (P = .000, r2 = .343) and duration of menopause (P = .001, r2 = .343). Estrogen status also correlated with HsCRP. Conclusion: CAL and HsCRP were higher in women with early menopause. CAL was significantly correlated with postmenopausal period and HsCRP in the population studied. Keywords: chronic periodontitis, C-reactive protein, estrogen, menopause