Salivary and Serum Ferritin Levels: Is There a Correlation?

Background and aim: blood samples are used for the diagnosis of many diseases. serum ferritin level is known to be a marker of anemia and iron overload disorders. however, blood collection is an invasive method. saliva, as a bio-fluid, contains a variety of important components that are successfully used for assessment of body health. the use of saliva samples for ferritin evaluation can be regarded as a simple and noninvasive alternative to serum assessment. the aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation between salivary and serum ferritin levels. materials and methods: in this cross-sectional study, 107 participants who were referred to a medical laboratory in qazvin, iran, voluntarily provided unstimulated saliva and blood samples using the standard methods. the levels of ferritin in the serum and saliva samples were determined. the spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data. results: the results suggested a positive correlation between the salivary and serum ferritin levels (p=0.004, r=0.27). gender and age had no significant correlation with salivary and serum ferritin levels (p>0.05). conclusion: considering the equivalent diagnostic efficacy as serum samples, salivary samples can be used as a noninvasive and simple method to determine the ferritin levels.