Salivary calcium as a diagnostic tool for screening of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women

Abstract

Background: Women's health undergoes physiological, pathological and psychological changes after menopause. Reduced estrogen levels have been implicated in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Estrogen is also known to affect the salivary gland functions. To understand the association between serum estrogen, osteoporosis and salivary calcium, the present cross-sectional study was undertaken. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine salivary calcium levels and its use for the diagnosis of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Methodology: Ninety individuals divided into three groups of healthy controls, pregnant women and postmenopausal women were selected. Serum estrogen, salivary calcium and bone mineral density (BMD) at the heel region were estimated. Statistical analysis using the Mann–Whitney U-test was done to compare the results within the groups. Results: Mean estrogen levels were 115.8 ± 80.18 pg/mmol in control group, 7729.4 ± 907.6 pg/mmol in pregnant group and 51.2 ± 74.51 pg/mmol in postmenopausal group, respectively. The mean salivary calcium in control, pregnant and postmenopausal groups was 3.12 ± 0.63, 3.19 ± 0.62 and 7.12 ± 0.79 μg/dl, respectively. Paired comparison within the groups showed high statistical significance ( P = 0.0000) in the salivary calcium levels. The mean BMD of −2.3 (standard deviation [SD] ± 0.83) in the postmenopausal group was significantly lower than −0.6 (SD ± 0.99) and −0.2 (SD ± 1.42) of pregnant and control groups, respectively. Conclusion: A negative correlation was found between estrogen and bone density. A significant difference in salivary calcium was noted in the study groups, highlighting the role of salivary calcium in the detection of early bone changes in postmenopausal women.

The potential of salivary biomarkers of nutritional status and dietary intake: A Systematic Review

“…Two studies found that post-menopausal women with a lower BMD had higher salivary calcium than post-menopausal women without bone mineral changes [88] or pre-menopausal or pregnant women [45]. Long-term supplementation of vitamin D combined with calcium, did not significantly affect salivary calcium in osteoporotic women [40].…”

“…The quality of case-control studies varied, ranging from one to eight and a 4.28 average out of nine (poor quality). This average is reflected by only 10 studies having a consecutive or representative set of cases [29,30,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. The quality of cross-sectional studies ranged between two and five, with a 3.86 average out of nine (unsatisfactory).…”

“…Limited, but promising, evidence was reported for salivary calcium and BMD in post-menopausal women, as those with lower a BMD had higher unstimulated calcium levels compared to premenopausal or pregnant women [45] or post-menopausal women without bone mineral changes [88]. This suggests that salivary calcium may be a useful screening tool for bone mineral changes and has the potential for early diagnoses of osteoporosis [88].…”

Comparative Assessment of Microcrystallization Index Changes of the Oral Fluid in Patients with Furuncles in Maxillofacial Region with Different Approaches of Treatment

“…Применение этого метода в клинической практике показало его высокую диагностическую информативность при различных заболеваниях [13,14,16]. Целесообразность использования данной биологической среды в качестве объекта исследования объясняется ее значимой физиологической ролью в организме, а также доступностью получения диагностического материала [17,18,19].…”

“…Представленные данные подтверждают мнение специалистов о перспективности использования ротовой жидкости, как наиболее доступной и информативной биологической среды организма человека для проведения как диагностических, так и прогностических тестов у лиц как с соматической патологией [14,17,18], так и с воспалительными заболеваниями челюстно-лицевой области [13]. Кроме того, результаты исследования убеждают в актуальности широко обсуждаемого в специальной научной литературе последних лет вопроса о возможности осуществления динамического наблюдения за течением заболевания в процессе проведения лечения на основании оценки характера микрокристаллизации биологических жидкостей организма [14,16,27].…”