Gum Disease, Heart Disease/Enfermedad de las Encias: Enfermedad del corazon

( Ingles y espanol, traduccion del articulo al espanol a continuacion del mismo) TUESDAY, May 26 (HealthDay News) -- A genetic link between gum disease (periodontitis) and heart disease has been discovered by German scientists. The association between periodontitis and coronary heart disease (CHD) has been known for years, but a genetic link between the conditions hadn't been confirmed. The University of Kiel team found that the two diseases share a genetic variant on chromosome 9. "We studied a genetic locus on chromosome 9p21.3 that had previously been identified to be associated with myocardial infarction [heart attack], in a group of 151 patients suffering from the most aggressive, early-onset forms of periodontitis, and a group of 1,097 CHD patients who had already had a heart attack. The genetic variation associated with the clinical pictures of both diseases was identical," Dr. Arne Schaefer said in a European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) news release. He and his colleagues verified this genetic association in additional groups of 180 periodontitis patients and 1,100 CHD patients. The study was presented May 25 at the annual ESHG conference, in Vienna, Austria. Because of the link between periodontitis and CHD, "we think that periodontitis should be taken very seriously by dentists and diagnosed and treated as early as possible," Schaefer said. He noted that periodontitis and CHD share risk factors such as smoking, diabetes and obesity. "Now that we know for sure that there is a strong genetic link, patients with periodontitis should try to reduce their risk factors and take preventive measures at an early stage," he said. "We hope that our findings will make it easier to diagnose the disease at an early stage, and that in future, a greater insight into the specific pathophysiology might open the way to effective treatment before the disease can take hold." Traduccion: ENFERMEDAD GINGIVAL, ENFERMEDAD DEL CORAZON Cientificos alemanes han encontrado una relacion genetica entre la enfermedad periodontal y la enfermedad del corazon. La asociacion de la estas enfermedades ha sido conocida por anios, pero la relacion genetica no habia sido confirmada. El equipo de la Universidad de Kiel ha confirmado que las dos enfermedades comparten una variacion genetica sobre el cromosama 9. " hemos estudiado un locus genetico del cromosoma 9p21.3, que habia sido previamente identificado a ser asociado con infarto al miocardio ( ataque cardiaco), en un grupo de 151 pacientes que sufria de la forma mas agrasiva de las periodontitis tempranas, y un grupo de 1097 pacientes que sufrian de CDH (enfermedad coronaria por sus siglas en ingles), quienes ya habian tenido un ataque cardiaco. La variacion genetica asociada con las fotos de ambas enfermedades fueron identicas, dijo el Dr. Arne Schaefer en el diario medico "European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG)". El y sus colegas verifcaron esta asociacion genetica en 180 pacientes adicionales de enfermedades periodontales y 1100 pacientes con enfermedades coronarias. El estudio fue presentado en Mayo en la conferencia anual ESHG este anio en Viena, Austria. "Ya que se ha demostrado esta relacion entre la enfermedad periodontal y las enfermedades coronarias pensamos que la enfermedad periodontal deberia ser tomada mas seriamente", dijo Schaefer. El anoto que ambas enfermedades comparten factores de riesgo como son el cigarrillo, diabetes y obesidad. La Asociacion Americana de Periodontologia tiene mas informacion al respecto.