International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | June 2019 | Vol 7 | Issue 6 Page 2412 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Bairwa BK et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2019 Jun;7(6):2412-2416 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article A comparative study of salivary and serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase in patients with osteoporosis Bijender Kumar Bairwa, Mamta Sagar*, R. C. Gupta, Madhuri Gupta INTRODUCTION Osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disease which is associated with reduced bone mass/density and micro architectural deterioration of bone tissue in human body. 1 It is usually diagnosed by weakened bones and as cause of pain and debilitating fractures. 2 In the developed world, depending on the method of diagnosis, 2% to 8% of males and 9% to 38% of females are affected. 3 Rates of disease in the developing world are unclear. 4 About 22 million women and 5.5 million men in the European Union had osteoporosis in 2015. 5 Osteoporosis primarily affects older people, particularly women, and is associated with 80% of fractures in people older than age 60 years. Osteoporosis is called a “silent disease” because it progresses without symptoms until a fracture occurs. The fractures caused by osteoporosis have a great impact on public health, as they are often associated to increased morbidity, mortality, reduced quality of life, long hospital stays and high economic cost. 6 Menopause is a physiological process occurring due to decrease in levels of estrogen, in the fifth decade of life in women, involving permanent cessation of menstruation. Menopause is accompanied by physiological and sensorial oral changes in select individuals. The prevalence of oral symptoms was found to be significantly greater in menopausal women (43%) than in premenopausal women (6%). 7 Osteoporosis have greater risk in women after menopause and certain oral changes like xerostomia and burning mouth syndrome, which are a caused of dry mouth, lead to decrease salivary flow. 8 Osteoporosis is asymptomatic and the condition usually presents only after bone fracture and is usually associated with low trauma ‘fragility fractures. Osteoporotic (fragility) fractures are fractures that result from Department of Biochemistry, National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India Received: 10 April 2019 Accepted: 04 May 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Mamta Sagar, E-mail: drmamtasagar01@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: This study was undertaken to investigate the changes in salivary and serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase in osteoporosis patients. The objective was to compare the change in serum levels with those in saliva. Methods: The study was conducted in the department of biochemistry, National Institute of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Shobha Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Subjects were selected from department of orthopedics, National Institute of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Shobha Nagar, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. At the same time one hundred adult osteoporosis patients confirmed by DEXA were taken. Calcium and alkaline phosphatase were measured in serum and saliva of each patient. The data obtained was statistically analyzed. Results: Serum calcium has strong positive correlation with salivary calcium (r=0.726) while serum ALP and salivary ALP had weak positive correlation (r =0.453). Conclusions: Saliva can be used to measure calcium level instead of serum as it is non-invasive, quick and easy method. Keywords: Calcium and alkaline phosphatase, Osteoporosis DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20192539