Is there any difference between preeclamptic and healthy pregnant women regarding the presence of periopathogenic bacteria in the placenta?

Abstract

Background: Preeclampsia is an important cause of maternal morbidity and mortality with unclear cause. It is believed that inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory infectious condition which commonly involves humans. Recently, chronic infection was linked to atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis shares some histopathologic features with uteroplacental atherosis of preeclamptic women. This study was aimed to investigate the presence of periopathogenic bacteria in the placental tissue of preeclamptic women, and compare it with women with normal pregnancy.

Methods: Samples were obtained from 23 placentas of preeclamptic women and from 23 age-matched healthy pregnant women. Qualitative polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect the presence of five periopathogenic bacteria.

Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the relative frequency of women with different types of periopathogenic bacterial infection of the placenta. In addition, there was no significant difference in the number of women with any type of infection of the placenta (regardless of the type of periopathogenic bacteria) [14 (61%) mothers with placental infection in the case group vs. 18 (78%) mothers in the control group, P value = 0.16].

Conclusions: This study did not show any significant difference between preeclamptic women and healthy women with normal pregnancy regarding the periopathogenic bacterial profile of the placenta.

Keywords: Periodontitis; periopathogenic bacteria; placenta; preeclampsia.