Accuracy of salivary glucose assessment in diagnosis of diabetes and prediabestes

Abstract

Aimsto assess salivary glucose correlation with blood glucose and its accuracy in diagnosis of diabetes and prediabetes. Materials and methodsA comparative study including 204 adults in 3 groups (104 type 2 diabetics, 50 prediabetics, 50 non-diabetic controls) aging 18–65 years. The participants were interviewed about their socio-demographic, comorbidities, & drug treatment using a predesigned questionnaire. Salivary & blood samples were collected and analyzed. ResultsMean salivary glucose was observed to be 23.40 ± 12.755 mg/dl in control group, 42.68 ± 20.830 mg/dl in prediabetic group and 59.32 ± 19.147 mg/dl in diabetic group with significant difference between the 3 groups (P value < 0.001). Salivary glucose was significantly correlated to FBS with strong positive association (r = 0.67, P value < 0.001 in control group, r = 0.56, P value < 0.001in diabetic group and r = 0.36, P value 0.01 in pre-diabetic group). Salivary glucose could differentiate non-diabetics from diabetics (AUC: 0.928, P value < 0.001) with sensitivity (94.2%) and specificity (62%) & differentiate non-diabetics from prediabetics (AUC: 0.928, P value < 0.001) with sensitivity (94.2%) and specificity (62%). ConclusionsSalivary glucose estimation can serve as valid and non-invasive test for screening and diagnosis of diabetes & prediabetes.