Infection with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and preeclampsia

Objectives: Periodontitis has been considered a systemic exposure implicated in a higher risk of adverse pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine whether maternal periodontitis and oral microbial burden were associated with the development of preeclampsia. Methods: The sample was composed of systemic healthy 130 women who had giving birth at the Department of Gynecology of Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital. Maternal demographic and medical data were collected from medical records. Preeclampsia was defined as hypertension with proteinuria occurring after the 20th week of gestation but being resolved by the 12th post-partum week. The clinical periodontal parameters, the presense and quantity of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Prevotella intermedia in subgingival plaque collected from 4 teeth per participant with the sites of the deepest probing depths, and the maternal immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses in serum to these bacteria were measured within 5 days after labor. We used the Mann-Whitney U test and c ² test for statistical analyses. Results: Positive correlations were found between the numbers of bacteria with the serum IgG antibody levels to these bacteria. There was no association between preeclampsia and presence of periodontitis. The number of A.actinomycetemcomitans was associated with an increased risk for preeclampsia (P=0.01). In addition, the number of A.actinomycetemcomitans was associated with an increased risk for pregnancy induced hypertension (P=0.02) and PTB (P=0.03). The maternal clinical measurements of periodontitis were correlated positively with the number of P. gingivalis. and P.intermedia, although, no statistically significant association was found between these pathogens and preeclampsia. Conclusions: The present study shows that maternal infection for A.actinomycetemcomitans during pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk for preeclampsia. A.actinomycetemcomitans has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various infectious diseases. Further studies are needed to evaluate the specific involvement of A.actinomycetemcomitans in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.