TY - JOUR
T1 - Blood contamination in children's saliva
T2 - Prevalence, stability, and impact on the measurement of salivary cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone
AU - Granger, Douglas A.
AU - Cicchetti, Dante
AU - Rogosch, Fred A.
AU - Hibel, Leah C.
AU - Teisl, Michael
AU - Flores, Elisa
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2007/7
Y1 - 2007/7
N2 - The prevalence, stability, and impact of blood contamination in children's saliva on the measurement of three of the most commonly assayed hormones were examined. Participants were 363 children (47% boys; ages 6-13 years) from economically disadvantaged families who donated saliva samples on 2 days in the morning, midday, and late afternoon. Samples (n=2178) were later assayed for cortisol (C), testosterone (T), and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). To index the presence of blood (and its components) in saliva, samples were assayed for transferrin. Transferrin levels averaged 0.37 mg/dl (SD=0.46, range 0.0-5.5, Mode=0), and were: (1) highly associated within individuals across hours and days, (2) positively correlated with age, (3) higher for boys than girls, (4) higher in PM than AM samples, and (5) the highest (>1.0 mg/dl) levels were rarely observed in samples donated from the same individuals. Transferrin levels were associated with salivary DHEA and C, but less so for T. As expected, the relationships were positive, and explained only a small portion of the variance. Less than 1% of the statistical outliers (+2.5 SDs) in salivary hormone distributions had correspondingly high transferrin levels. We conclude that blood contamination in children's saliva samples is rare, and its effects on the measurement of salivary hormones is small. Guidelines and recommendations are provided to steer investigators clear of this potential problem in special circumstances and populations.
AB - The prevalence, stability, and impact of blood contamination in children's saliva on the measurement of three of the most commonly assayed hormones were examined. Participants were 363 children (47% boys; ages 6-13 years) from economically disadvantaged families who donated saliva samples on 2 days in the morning, midday, and late afternoon. Samples (n=2178) were later assayed for cortisol (C), testosterone (T), and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). To index the presence of blood (and its components) in saliva, samples were assayed for transferrin. Transferrin levels averaged 0.37 mg/dl (SD=0.46, range 0.0-5.5, Mode=0), and were: (1) highly associated within individuals across hours and days, (2) positively correlated with age, (3) higher for boys than girls, (4) higher in PM than AM samples, and (5) the highest (>1.0 mg/dl) levels were rarely observed in samples donated from the same individuals. Transferrin levels were associated with salivary DHEA and C, but less so for T. As expected, the relationships were positive, and explained only a small portion of the variance. Less than 1% of the statistical outliers (+2.5 SDs) in salivary hormone distributions had correspondingly high transferrin levels. We conclude that blood contamination in children's saliva samples is rare, and its effects on the measurement of salivary hormones is small. Guidelines and recommendations are provided to steer investigators clear of this potential problem in special circumstances and populations.
KW - Blood contamination in saliva
KW - Children
KW - Cortisol
KW - Dehydroepiandrosterone
KW - Saliva biomarkers
KW - Salivary transferrin
KW - Testosterone
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U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.05.003
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.05.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 17582690
AN - SCOPUS:34347332199
SN - 0306-4530
VL - 32
SP - 724
EP - 733
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
IS - 6
ER -