COMPARISON OF SALIVARY ALPHA-AMYLASE LEVELS IN SCHIZOPHRENICS AND NORMAL INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is an intricate mental disease with unidentified aetiology. It affects person’s awareness, thought processing, language, communication and attitude and hence can lead to social and occupational dysfunctioning. So far there is no known diagnostic laboratory test for schizophrenia and the diagnosis is made only on the basis of clinical interviews before labelling a person as schizophrenic. However, recent studies indicate that salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) levels are raised in schizophrenics. Determination of sAA might help them avoid extended clinical sittings and thus expedite the diagnosis. Methods: The current research was a cross-sectional comparative study in which sAA levels were assessed in 100 subjects. The subjects were divided in two groups; fifty patients in schizophrenia group and fifty in control group. sAA levels were compared between the two groups. Results: Mean sAA levels were significantly higher in schizophrenic group as compared to normal individuals (p=0.001). However, there was no significant difference in mean sAA levels between the two genders (p=0.163). Conclusion: The findings indicate that sAA levels are expected to be high in schizophrenics as compared to normal individuals and hence sAA may be used as a biomarker for diagnosis of schizophrenia in future.

Pak J Physiol 2019;15(1):7–9