title: Evaluation of serum calcium and serum parathyroid levels in post-menopausal women with and without oral dryness.
abstract: 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).
  
  
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, SGRD Institute of Dental Sciences & Research, Amritsar, India.
authors.forename: Balwinder
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, M.M. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Shambulingappa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pallagatti
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, SGRD Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Amritsar, India.
authors.forename: Ramandeep Singh
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Narang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, SGRD Institute of Dental Sciences & Research, Amritsar, India.
authors.forename: Kirandeep
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, M.M. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Soheyl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology, SGRD Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Amritsar, India.
authors.forename: Adesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manchanda
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, M.M. College of Dental Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, India.
authors.forename: Gagandeep
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arora
mesh_terms: D002118:Calcium / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010281:Parathyroid Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000097:blood*; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D012636:Secretory Rate; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D010281:Parathyroid Hormone; D002118:Calcium
keywords: calcium; menopause; oral dryness; osteoporosis; post-menopausal; xerostomia