HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Appendix Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Qvarnstrom, M. Articles by Meurman, J.H. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Qvarnstrom, M. Articles by Meurman, J.H.

Salivary Lysozyme and Prevalent Hypertension

¹ Otorhinolaryngology/Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kuopio University, Kuopio, Finland;
² General Dentistry,
⁵ Health Policy and Health Services Research, and
⁶ Periodontology and Oral Biology, Boston University School of Dental Medicine, 100 East Newton Street, Rm. G-619, Boston, MA 02118, USA;
³ Cardiothoracic Surgery, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland;
⁴ National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA; and
⁷ University of Helsinki, Institute of Dentistry and Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

^* corresponding author, skjanket{at}bu.edu

Although the etiology of essential hypertension is not clearly understood, endothelial dysfunction from chronic infection and/or impaired glucose metabolism may be involved. We hypothesized that salivary lysozyme, a marker for oral infection and hyperglycemia, might display a significant relationship with hypertension, an early stage of cardiovascular disease. Logistic regression analyses of the Kuopio Oral Health and Heart Study demonstrated that persons with higher lysozyme levels were more likely to have hypertension, after adjustment for age, gender, smoking, BMI, diabetes, the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol, and C-reactive protein. The exposure to increasing quartiles of lysozyme was associated with adjusted Odds Ratios for the outcome, hypertension, 1.00 (referent), 1.25, 1.42, and 2.56 (linear trend p < 0.003). When we restricted the sample to the individuals without heart disease (N = 250), we observed a non-significant trend for increasing odds. Our hypothesis—"high salivary lysozyme levels are associated with the odds of hypertension"—was confirmed.

KEY WORDS: salivary lysozyme • hypertension • cytokines • advanced glycation end-products • endothelial dysfunction