Periodontitis and pre-eclampsia among pregnant women in Rwanda: A case-control study

by Agnes Gatarayiha, Joseph Ntaganira, Zoe Brookes, Léon Mutesa, Anders Gustafsson, Stephen Rulisa

Several studies have indicated that the presence of periodontitis during pregnancy could increase the risk of developing pre-eclampsia, thereby negatively influencing pregnancy outcomes for both the mother and child. Notably, despite the high prevalence of both periodontitis and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Rwanda, there exists a crucial evidence gap concerning the precise relationship between periodontitis and pre-eclampsia.

The aim of this study was to assess the association between periodontitis and pre-eclampsia amongst pregnant women in Rwanda.

Employing an unmatched 1:2 case-control design, we studied 52 pre-eclamptic and 104 non-pre-eclamptic pregnant women aged ≥18 years at two referral hospitals in Rwanda. Pre-eclampsia was defined as a systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 and diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg, diagnosed after 20 weeks of gestation and proteinuria of ≥300mL in 24 hours of urine collection. Periodontitis was defined as the presence of two or more teeth with one or more sites with a pocket depth ≥ 4mm and clinical attachment loss >3 mm at the same site, assessed through clinical attachment loss measurement. Bivariate analysis and logistic regression were used to estimate Odds ratio (ORs) and 95% confidence interval.

The prevalence of periodontitis was significantly higher among women with pre-eclampsia, compared to pregnant women without pre-eclampsia, at 90.4% and 55.8%, respectively (p< 0.001). Pregnant Women with periodontitis were 3.85 times more likely to develop pre-eclampsia after controlling for relevant confounders (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] = 3.85, 95%CI = 1.14–12.97, p<0.05).

This study results indicates that periodontitis is significantly associated with pre-eclampsia among pregnant women in Rwanda. These findings suggest that future research should explore whether enhancing periodontal health during pregnancy could contribute to reducing pre-eclampsia in this specific population.