ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to determine the salivary Ferritin levels in children with iron deficiency anemia and its reliability as a predictive marker of the disease and whether these levels could give a new hypothetical insight on the oral epithelial changes seen in patients with iron deficiency anemia. STUDY DESIGN: The study comprised of 60 children of which the study group comprised of 30 individuals; aged 8-14 years with iron deficiency anemia. Venous blood was collected and hematological examination was performed to determine the hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels to confirm the diagnosis. Saliva was then collected from 30 children with iron deficiency anemia and an equal number of controls. The ferritin levels in saliva were then analyzed using solid phase ELISA. RESULT: The mean value of salivary ferritin in iron deficient cases was 153.24 +/- 46.58 microg/dl and the mean ferritin levels in control subject were 93.87 +/- 30.15 microg/dl. Thus the salivary ferritin was found to be significantly higher in iron deficient subjects compared to the controls. CONCLUSION: The result of our research affirms the fact that the expression of ferritin in saliva of iron deficiency anemia may be due to the enzymatic functions in the saliva and the endocytosis of ferritin which can possibly elevate the salivary ferritin. The diminished level of cytochrome oxidase, together with its relatively high Ferritin content, depicts the association of oral epithelial changes and ferritin occurring in iron deficiency anemia.
Subject(s)
Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/diagnosis , Ferritins/analysis , Saliva/chemistry , Salivary Proteins and Peptides/analysis , Adolescent , Anemia, Iron-Deficiency/blood , Biomarkers/analysis , Child , Endocytosis/physiology , Female , Ferritins/blood , Hemoglobins/analysis , Humans , Male , Predictive Value of Tests , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and SpecificityABSTRACT
The present study assessed the suitability of pulp/tooth volume ratio of mandibular canines for age prediction in an Indian population. Volumetric reconstruction of scanned images of mandibular canines from 140 individuals (aged ten - 70 years), using computed tomography was used to measure pulp and tooth volumes. Age calculated using a formula reported earlier for a Belgian sample, resulted in errors > ten years in almost 86% of the study population. The regression equation obtained for the Indian population: Age = 57.18 + (- 413.41 x pulp/tooth volume ratio), was applied to an independent control group (n = 48), and this resulted in mean absolute errors of 8.54 years which was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those derived with the Belgian formula. The pulp/tooth volume ratio is a useful indicator of age, although correlations may vary in different populations and hence, specific formulae should be applied for the estimates.
