title: Elevated salivary C-reactive protein levels are associated with active and passive smoking in healthy youth: A pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We examined salivary C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in the context of tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) in healthy youth. We hypothesized that there would be a dose-response relationship between TSE status and salivary CRP levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  This work is a pilot study (N = 45) for a larger investigation in which we aim to validate salivary CRP against serum CRP, the gold standard measurement of low-grade inflammation. Participants were healthy youth with no self-reported periodontal disease, no objectively measured obesity/adiposity, and no clinical depression, based on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). We assessed tobacco smoking and confirmed smoking status (non-smoking, passive smoking, and active smoking) with salivary cotinine measurement. We measured salivary CRP by the ELISA method. We controlled for several potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found evidence for the existence of a dose-response relationship between the TSE status and salivary CRP levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our preliminary findings indicate that salivary CRP seems to have a similar relation to TSE as its widely used serum (systemic inflammatory) biomarker counterpart.
authors.affiliation: Psychobiology of Stress and Health Lab, Psychology Department, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. razar@mta.ca.
authors.forename: Rima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Azar
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Richard