Evaluation of Salivary IgA in Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Patients: A Case-Control Study

Objective: Diabetes Mellitus as the most common metabolic disease of human has wide range of oral consequences such as oral infections which could make changes in the properties of saliva. The purpose of this study was to compare the amount of salivary IgA in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, the population consisted of 40 persons including 20 diabetic and 20 non-diabetic subjects. All of them had not eaten, drunk or smoked at least 90 minutes before sampling. Sampling launched and the salivary IgA was measured with nephelometric procedure with Minineph kit (Minineph TM Human Kit, Binding Site Ltd, Birmingham, UK).The data were statistically analyzed by T-test and chi-square using SPSS software. Results: In 70% of the case group, salivary IgA was higher than the normal (>37.6mg/dl) but none were higher than normal in the non-diabetic (control) group and this difference was statically significant (p=0.009). IgA and age (p=0.303), and IgA and sex (p=0.0398) had no significant correlation on both case and control group. Conclusion: Salivary IgA of diabetic patients is higher than the non-diabetics (p=0.009).