Acute periapical abscesses in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of acute periapical abscesses (PAs) in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). METHODS: Integrated data of hospital patients was used. Data from the corresponding diagnosis codes for Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis (UC), and PAs were analyzed by querying the appropriate ICD-10 codes in the database. RESULTS: Out of 7,455 Crohn's patients, 121 were affected with acute PAs. Out of 7,352 UC patients, 115 were affected with acute PAs. In both diseases, females were more affected than males, and whites were more affected than African Americans and other ethnicities. The odds ratio (OR) for acute PAs in patients with Crohn's disease was 2.69. The OR for acute PAs in patients with UC was 2.51. The difference in prevalence compared to the total hospital patient population was statistically significant (P< 0.0001). In Crohn's patients, after adjustment for smoking and diabetes co-morbidities, the OR for acute PAs was 1.51 and 2.08, respectively. The difference in prevalence as compared to the total hospital patient population was statistically significant (P< 0.001) and (P< 0.0001), respectively. In UC patients, after adjustment for smoking and diabetes co-morbidities, the OR for acute PAs was 1.44 and 1.46, respectively. The difference in prevalence as compared to the total hospital patient population was statistically significant (P< 0.005). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Clinicians should be cognizant of the possible higher prevalence of periapical abscesses in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.