Racial differences in salivary sIgA concentrations in postmenopausal women

The purpose of this study was to compare slgA salivary concentrations between Caucasian and African-American postmenopausal women. The age, height, weight and history of hormone replacement therapy were recorded and the BMI was calculated for each individual. Whole, stimulated saliva was assayed for slgA and total protein. Logistic regression analysis evaluated the relationships between the outcome variables. Total salivary slgA and adjusted slgA (adjusted for protein) concentrations were significantly higher in the African-American women (p<0.01). There were significant statistical correlations between slgA concentrations and race (p<0.01). Our data suggest that racial differences in salivary slgA concentrations in elderly women could be an important variable for planning future studies utilizing salivary samples as biological markers.