Liechti Livia, Regitz-Zagrosek Vera, Gebert Pimrapat, Schmidlin Patrick R, Campus Guglielmo
Division of Periodontology & Peri-Implant Diseases, Clinic of Conservative and Preventive Dentistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
BMC Oral Health. 2025 Aug 13;25(1):1324. doi: 10.1186/s12903-025-06719-3.
The role of sex- and gender-related traits has often been downplayed in clinical studies and periodontal disease is no exception. Sex and gender represent distinct biological and sociocultural factors that may independently influence periodontal disease. These factors can affect the risk and progression of periodontal disease as well as response to treatment. This clinical observational study was designed to evaluate gender distribution and the impact of sex and gender on health of gingival tissue using bleeding on probing and probing depth (Periodontal Screening Index "PSI").
Four hundred thirty patients were included in this study. Clinical parameters were retrieved from standard examination and a questionnaire was used to assess gender. Sex was characterized as indicated in the birth certificate, a short version of a Swiss-Canadian gender questionnaire was used for the assessment of gender. In addition, patients were asked about self-attribution of gender and the gender Score (GS) was constructed for each subject.
53.0% (228 patients) were females and 47.0% (202 patients) males. No statistically significant differences were observed regarding sex distribution between the categorization of PSI in two and three groups (p = 0.68 and p = 0.57 respectively). The mean gender score (GS) in the subjects with Gingivitis/Mild Periodontitis was 51.75 ± 41.77 while in the subjects with claimed Periodontitis was 51.74 ± 40.55 (One-way ANOVA F = 0.00 p = 0.98). There was no statistically significant association between GS and periodontitis.
This study is one of the first to examine both sex and gender using a validated score in relation to periodontal disease. The outcomes of the cross-sectional study demonstrate that gender is not an indicator for the presence of periodontal disease in Swiss population, emphasizing the need to consider sex and gender as separate factors in clinical studies. Clinical screening protocols may not need to be adjusted based on gender-related traits.
性别相关特征在临床研究中的作用常常被忽视，牙周疾病也不例外。性别代表了不同的生物学和社会文化因素，它们可能独立影响牙周疾病。这些因素会影响牙周疾病的风险、进展以及对治疗的反应。本临床观察性研究旨在使用探诊出血和探诊深度（牙周筛查指数“PSI”）来评估性别分布以及性别对牙龈组织健康的影响。
本研究纳入了430名患者。从标准检查中获取临床参数，并使用问卷评估性别。性别根据出生证明进行界定，使用一份瑞士 - 加拿大性别问卷的简短版本来评估性别。此外，询问患者对性别的自我认定，并为每个受试者构建性别评分（GS）。
53.0%（228名患者）为女性，47.0%（202名患者）为男性。在将PSI分为两组和三组的分类中，性别分布未观察到统计学上的显著差异（分别为p = 0.68和p = 0.57）。牙龈炎/轻度牙周炎患者的平均性别评分（GS）为51.75±41.77，而声称患有牙周炎的患者的平均性别评分为51.74±40.55（单因素方差分析F = 0.00，p = 0.98）。GS与牙周炎之间无统计学上的显著关联。
本研究是首批使用经过验证的评分来同时研究性别与牙周疾病关系的研究之一。横断面研究的结果表明，在瑞士人群中，性别不是牙周疾病存在与否的指标，强调在临床研究中需要将性别视为单独的因素。临床筛查方案可能无需根据性别相关特征进行调整。
