Estimation and comparison of erythrocyte and hemoglobin levels in subjects with healthy periodontium and chronic periodontitis

Objective: To compare and evaluate the relationship between anemia and periodontitis by estimation of peripheral blood between healthy patients and chronic periodontitis patients. Material and Methods: Of the total of 230 outpatients approached to participate in the study, 100 eligible patients were selected as per the selection criteria. After written consent, these patients were divided into two groups according to the clinical parameters as healthy and disease (chronic periodontitis) groups. Under aseptic conditions, venous blood samples were obtained by vein-puncture in the ante-cubital fossa without excessive venous stasis and the mean value of erythrocytes (EC), hemoglobin concentration (HGB), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were measured. Paired t-test was employed to find the significance of study parameters on continuous scale within the group analysis and unpaired t-test (two tailed, dependent) was used to find the significance of study parameters on continuous scale in the inter group analysis. Results: Generally, the healthy group reported higher levels of EC, HGB, MCV and MCH than the periodontitis group. The mean hemoglobin level was significantly higher (p-value<0.05) in healthy patients (12.66 ±1.41 gm/dl) whereas a slightly lower level of 11.32±1.85 gm/dl was observed in patients with chronic periodontitis. Similarly, the range of erythrocyte count of healthy patients was significantly higher (3.69-5.29 million/μl) than chronic periodontitis patients (3.33-5.97 million/μl). Whilst MCV was higher in healthy patients but non-significant, higher mean MCH of 27.75 ± 3.25 pg/cell was reported in healthy patients compared to mean of 25.73 ± 3.22 pg/cell in patients with chronic periodontitis. Conclusion: Significant hematological differences in EC, HGB, MCV and MCH between healthy periodontium and chronic periodontitis subjects were seen indicating mild anemia.