Aims The relationship between diabetes mellitus and periodontitis has long been discussed,
but the conclusion of this relationship was controversial. We conducted this meta-analysis
to explore the association between diabetes mellitus and the prevalence of periodontitis.
Methods PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for
studies reporting associations of periodontitis with diabetes. Gray literature was
integrated from the Open-Gray database. Prevalence estimates and odds ratios were
extracted by two independent reviewers and synthesized through meta-analyses. Results
Twenty-seven papers met the inclusion criteria involving 3092 diabetic patients and
23,494 controls. Overall prevalence of periodontitis was 67.8% in diabetics (combined
types) and 35.5% in patients without diabetes (OR, 1.85; 95%CI, 1.61-2.11). Probing
depth (MD 0.23; 95% CI, 0.17-0.29; I-2 = 25%) and plaque index (MD, 0.20; 95% CI,
0.18-0.23; P = 0.59; I-2 = 0%) severity scores were significantly greater among the
diabetic group. Conclusions The prevalence and severity of periodontitis are greater
in patients with diabetes than in non-diabetic populations.
