The comparison of salivary level of estrogen and progesterone in 1st,2nd and 3rd trimester in pregnant women with and without geographic tongue

Abstract

Background: Geographic tongue (GT) was first reported as a wandering rash of the tongue

in 1831; however, its etiopathogenesis remains unclear. Increased prevalence of GT has been

documented in the pregnancy. The aim of this study was to compare the level of salivary estrogen

and progesterone in pregnant women with and without GT.

Materials and Methods: This analytical-descriptive study consisted of 26 pregnant women

(13 with GT, 13 without GT) with an age range between 18 years and 45 years. The estrogen and

progesterone level was measured during 1st, 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Saliva sampling

was performed to determine the level of sex hormones. The samples were stored at –80°C and

determined by Eliza method. The results were analyzed by t-test and repeated measure ANOVA

(α = 0.05).

Results: The mean level of estrogen for control and case group was 49.4and 52.33 in the 1st,

71.05 and 74.12 in the 2nd and 109.1 and 112.16 in the 3rd trimester respectively. The mean level

of progesterone was 0.72 and 0.72 in the 1st, 1.14 and 1.21 in the 2nd and 1.3 and 1.28 in the

3rd trimester of pregnancy for the control and case groups respectively. Even though, there was

no significant difference regarding the level of sex hormones between case and control groups

(P > 0.05), but the difference between the level of these hormones during 3 trimesters of pregnancy

was significant in each group (P = 0.001).

Conclusion: The level of sex hormones is not the only etiologic factor of GT in pregnant

women, but other factors such as genetic potential, human leukocyte antigen marker and stress

may aggravate the incidence of this lesion.

Key Words: Estrogen, geographic, pregnancy, progesterone, tongue