Cui Y, Zhang H, Wang S, Lu J, He J, Liu L, Liu W. Stimulated Parotid Saliva Is a Better Method for Depression Prediction.
Biomedicines 2022;
10:2220. [PMID:
36140321 PMCID:
PMC9496557 DOI:
10.3390/biomedicines10092220]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Saliva cortisol is considered to be a biomarker of depression prediction. However, saliva collection methods can affect the saliva cortisol level.
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to determine the ideal saliva collection method and explore the application value of saliva cortisol in depression prediction.
METHODS
30 depressed patients and 30 healthy controls were instructed to collect saliva samples in the morning with six collection methods. Simultaneous venous blood was collected. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the cortisol level. The 24-observerrated Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD-24) was used to assess the severity of depression.
RESULTS
The significant differences in saliva cortisol levels depend on the saliva collection methods. The level of unstimulated whole saliva cortisol was most correlated with blood (r = 0.91). The stimulated parotid saliva cortisol can better predict depression. The area under the curve was 0.89. In addition, the saliva cortisol level of the depression patients was significantly higher than the healthy controls. The correlation between the cortisol level and the HAMD-24 score was highly significant. The higher the saliva cortisol level, the higher the HAMD-24 score.
CONCLUSIONS
All the above findings point to an exciting opportunity for non-invasive monitoring of cortisol through saliva.
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