Related Experiment Videos
Salivary testosterone levels in women with systemic lupus erythematosus
M A Navarro1, A Vidaller, J B Ortolá
1Hormone Unit, Ciudad Sanitaria de Bellvitge, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain.
Objective:
To measure salivary testosterone in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Methods:
We investigated concentrations of salivary testosterone in 13 women with active SLE and 47 women with inactive SLE, and in 72 healthy female controls.
Results:
We found a significant decrease in salivary testosterone concentrations in glucocorticoid-treated SLE patients (mean +/- SD 0.06 +/- 0.04 nmoles/liter) but no differences in concentrations in untreated patients (0.09 +/- 0.03 nmoles/liter), compared with the healthy controls (0.11 +/- 0.04 nmoles/liter).
Conclusion:
Glucocorticoid treatment appears to cause a decrease in the salivary testosterone level. Measurement of salivary testosterone is a simple way of monitoring androgen metabolism in patients with SLE.