title: Differences of salivary cortisol levels between long-term and short-term wearers of dento-maxillary prosthesis due to head and neck cancer resection.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to use cortisol awakening response (CAR) to investigate the differences in daily life stress experienced by individuals wearing either a long-term (LT) or a short-term (ST) dento-maxillary prosthesis following head and neck cancer (HNC) resection. Also we used the University of Washington Quality of Life (UW-QOL) version 4 questionnaire to evaluate the differences in quality of life (QOL) scores between ST and LT wearers of a dento-maxillary prosthesis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Salivary samples were collected from 11 LT and 10 ST prosthesis wearers on two consecutive days at two time points, immediately after waking up (T0) and 30min later (T30), by passive drool collection. Cortisol levels were measured using a high sensitivity salivary cortisol enzyme immunoassay kit (Salimetrics, LLC, State College, PA, USA) and CAR (the differences between the cortisol levels at T0 and T30) was compared between LT and ST prosthesis wearers. In addition, both the groups completed the UW-QOL questionnaire and the scores were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant difference was observed in CAR between the two groups. CAR of the ST prosthesis wearers was significantly lower compared with that of the LT prosthesis wearers; moreover, the ST prosthesis wearers revealed significantly lower total UW-QOL scores and there were significant differences in appearance, activity, recreation, speech, and anxiety.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Within the limitations of this study, the findings suggest that individuals wearing ST dento-maxillary prostheses following HNC resection experience some sort of daily life stress and complicated socio-demographic factors may influence their QOL.
authors: Department of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan. Electronic address: kosamfp@tmd.ac.jp.
authors: Moe
authors: M
authors: Kosaka
authors: Department of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan.
authors: Yuka I
authors: YI
authors: Sumita
authors: Department of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan.
authors: Takafumi
authors: T
authors: Otomaru
authors: Department of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan.
authors: Hisashi
authors: H
authors: Taniguchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D008447:Maxillofacial Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Cortisol levels; Dento-maxillary prosthesis wearers; Saliva