Salivary biomarkers may measure stress responses in critically ill children.

Objective: Measurement of salivary biomarkers can provide important information regarding hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity both under normal conditions as well as in response to psychological or physical stress. Our aim was to correlate salivary stress markers, such as cortisol, α-amylase and immunoglobulin A, with the Pediatric Risk Index Score of Mortality, underlying disease (pathologic, trauma and postoperative), need for mechanical ventilation/sedation and time lag between onset of illness and admission in children admitted in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Methods: We enrolled 79 pediatric intensive care unit patients (2-14 years) over a 2-year period, which satisfy the including criteria, but finally salivary biomarkers were evaluated in 65 patients.