Background and Aim: An association between periodontal and other bacterial infections and coronary HEART DISEASE/ atherosclerosis has recently been observed in both cross-sectional and logitudinal studies. The objective of this study was to examine the association between periodontitis and (CHD) and coronary atherosclerosis.Material and Methods: A case-control study was arranged using 76 individuals (52 men, 24 women), with mean age: 51 years who were referred to general hospital for coronary angiography. Gingival attachment loss and coronary atheromatosis was assessed, together with measurement of the established coronary risk factors.Results: In the logistic regression analysis, odds ratios were 11.7 and 13.14 for attachment loss and CHD and coronary atheromatosis. For patients with attachment loss of greater than 6mm. Compared to those with attachment loss of less than 6mm, odds ratio of CHD and "two and three vessels DISEASE" were 11.7 and 13.4 respectively. Odds ratio of each millimeter increase in attachment loss, for CHD was 2.18 individuals with less than 10 teeth compared to those with more than 10teeth had odds ratio of 3.77 and 4.4 for CHD and "two three vessels DISEASE". No association was observed between age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, smoking and CHD, which is not quite reliable due to the small number of participants.Conclusion: This observation shows an association between the severity of periodontitis and CHD and atherosclerosis also supports the proposal that periodontal infections play a role in the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis.

As adoptin and maintenance of healthy eating behaviours is an important factor for ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE (IHD) prevention, this research was conducted to determine dietetic risk factors in relation to IHD. This is a case - control study conducted in fall 2003 in Tehran HEART Center and Tehran Shahid Rajaii hospital. 100 subjects with IHD, as cases and 100 controls with no cardiovascular DISEASE in their medical history, participated in the study. Nutritional data was collected by Food Frequency Questionnaire. Some important risk factors including hypertention, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, Body Mass Index (BMI) and physical activity were evaluated. There was a positive association between IHD and consumption of fats and a negative association between IHD and consumption of fruits and vegetables. The most important factors were low intake of fish and high intake of fried foods that increased the risk of DISEASE 13.96 and 54.65times, respectively. Also 73% of patients had high risk diet while only 17% of controls had high risk diet. High risk diet increased the risk of cardiovascular DISEASEs approximately 20 times. The main dietetic risk factors in this study were: low intake of fish, fruits and vegetables and lower consumption of oiles; while hydrogenated fats with undesirable trans-fatty acid content, were the main source of dietary fat, in case group. Therefore; community-based educational programmes are necessary to promote healthy nutrition.      

Purpose: Evaluation of funduscopic findings in patients with ISCHEMIC HEART DISEASE (IHD) that hospitalized in coronary care unit (CCU) of Feiz & Khorshid hospitals in Isfahan in 1376- 1378.Materials and methods: In 268 patients with IHD hospitalized in CCU were examined for eight funduscopic findings, including hard exudate, cotton wool spots, vascular sheating, retinal hemorrhage, retinal vein occlusion, retinal artery occlusion, abnormal A-V crossing changes, and vascular tortuosity. The patients were classified into 4 groups: 1) patients with systemic hypertension (46 patients, 17.2%), 2) patients with diabetes mellitus (32 patients, 11.9%), 3) patients with both hypertension and diabetes (18 patients, 6.7%) and 4) patients with none of them (172 patients, 64.2%). Results: 32 diabetic patients (56.3%), funduscopic findings were seen in 35% of hypertensive patients, and 44.5% of patients with both diabetes and hypertension, only 19% of patients with neither diabetes nor hypertension had funduscopic findings.Conclusion: Funduscopic findings are not common in patients with IHD but without diabetes and / or hypertension.