Impact of well-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus on quality of life of chronic periodontitis patients

Background The purpose of the study is to examine the quality of life (QoL) in chronic periodontitis (CP) patients associated with or not with well-controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). Materials and Methods Five hundred CP patients, 250 with DM2 (GDM2 group) and 250 age- and gender-matched controls without DM2 (GND), were enrolled in this cross-sectional case-controlled study from January to September 2015. They were interviewed by a QoL questionnaire (Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue) validated to Portuguese. Periodontal examinations were also performed to confirm CP: probing pocket depth and clinical attachment level must be >3 mm. Results An association between the presence of DM2 and a high negative impact on QoL was observed. All domains in GDM2 patients presented mean values above 19. On the other hand, three functional domains in GND (physical, social/family, and emotional) showed values below 19 (medium negative impact). Comparisons between GND and GDM2 revealed the statistical difference between them for all domains (P < 0.05). Conclusions This study shows that DM2 associated with CP negatively affect QoL, even considering well-controlled diabetic patients.