Estimation of cortisol levels in patients with premalignant disorders and oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Introduction: Oral cancer has been a scourge on the human population that drastically affects the quality of life-causing chronic anxiety and depression leading to disturbance in hypothalamus pituitary axis reflected by cortisol hormone dysregulation. Stress hormones affect tumor progression at different levels such as initiation, tumor growth and metastasis. Cortisol dysregulation has been reported in other malignancies; however, a thorough review of English literature revealed only anecdotal studies investigating it in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate morning plasma and salivary cortisol levels in patients with OSCC, premalignant disorders (PMD's) and smokers and/or drinkers without any lesion (risk group) and control group and its correlation with Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale (HADS-subjective) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and Depression (HRSA, HRSD-objective).

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 25 patients each of OSCC, PMD's, risk and control group. Self-administered HADS and clinician-rated HRSD, HRSA were applied to each patient. Morning unstimulated saliva and venous blood sample were collected between 08:00 and 11:00 h to avoid diurnal variations. Morning salivary and plasma cortisol levels were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.

Results: Both morning plasma and salivary cortisol levels were significantly higher in patients in OSCC group as compared to other three groups in the study which were further supported by higher scores obtained from HADS, HRSA and HRSD scales.

Conclusion: The study observed that there was marked dysregulation of both morning plasma and salivary cortisol levels along with higher scores of anxiety and depression in OSCC.