Evaluation of serum calcium and serum parathyroid levels in post-menopausal women with and without oral dryness.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to estimate and secondary objective was to compare the serum calcium levels and serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in post-menopausal women with and without oral dryness (OD).

Materials And Methods: A case-control study was carried out on 80 selected post-menopausal women. Salivary flow was assessed by flow rate; serum calcium concentrations were assessed through Semi Autoanalyzer by Arsenazo III reaction. The serum PTH concentration was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Severity of OD was assessed by a questionnaire through which the xerostomia inventory (XI) score could be measured. Statistical analysis of Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney test and Pearson's correlation was used.

Results: There was a significant difference in mean values of both serum PTH concentration and XI score in post-menopausal women with/without OD (p < 0.001). No statistically significant difference (p = 0.354) was found in salivary flow rate and serum calcium levels in post-menopausal women in both groups. A positive correlation was found between the serum PTH and XI score in both case and control groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Severity of oral dryness in post-menopausal women is associated with the high levels of serum PTH. However, the correlation of severity of OD with serum calcium could not be established.