Salivary inflammatory burden in pre- and postmenopausal women: Associations with body mass index, patient-reported health, serum cytokines, and periodontal parameters

Background: The decline of estrogen levels during menopause impacts weight, mood, and overall health, both orally and systemically. This study assessed salivary levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, and IL-7 in postmenopausal (PMW) and regularly menstruating premenopausal (RMPW) women, while considering serum cytokine levels, body mass index (BMI), periodontal health, and self-reported physical and emotional well-being.Methods: In this study, 75 PMW and 71 RMPW were included. Clinical and periodontal parameters were evaluated, and perceived health was assessed with the Women's Health Questionnaire (WHQ). Cytokine levels in both saliva and serum were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Covariate evaluations of salivary cytokines were conducted using hierarchical linear regression modeling.Results: Cytokines were detectable in saliva from 71 PMW and 67 RMPW. In the initial unadjusted model, IL-7, IL-10, and TNF-alpha exibited significant differences between RMPW and PMW. However, these differences became non-significant (p > 0.05) in the final model after adjusting for age, which implies a negligible effect of the investigated covariates on salivary cytokine levels when age was considered. Lower levels of IL-6 in PMW, which initially showed no significant difference, became borderline (p = 0.054) in the final model after adjusting for age.Conclusions: After adjusting for multiple factors, no significant difference was found in the salivary levels of the investigated cytokines between RMPW and PMW. Factors such as BMI, perceived health, serum cytokine levels, and periodontal parameters seem to minimally influence these levels in PMW. However, age may be a stronger confounding factor.

Automated summary

This study compared the levels of cytokines in saliva between postmenopausal and regularly menstruating women, and found that there was no significant difference after adjusting for other factors. Age may be a stronger confounding factor.