Correlation Between Serum And Saliva Sex Hormones In Young Female Athletes

PURPOSE: Saliva sampling provides a practical noninvasive way for biological monitoring of steroid hormones but few studies have focused on saliva female sex hormones in female athletes. Hence whether salivary concentrations are an accurate reflection of serum concentrations in this population remains unknown. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the correlation between serum and saliva estradiol (E2) and progesterone (PG) in young female athletes with normal menstrual cycles between 24 and 31 days. METHODS: Blood and saliva samples were taken at rest in the morning at a fasting state in 10 female athletes (age: 19.9 ± 0.7 years, mean ± SEM) at 3 different hormonal periods: (1) end luteal/early follicular; (2) end follicular/periovulatory; (3) middle luteal phases. RESULTS: As previously reported, the young female athletes had significant higher serum E2 at the end follicular/periovulatory phase vs. both end luteal/early follicular and middle luteal (p < 0.01), with a significant difference between middle luteal and end luteal/early follicular, where E2 concentrations were very low (p < 0.01). In parallel, serum PG concentrations were significantly increased in middle luteal phase compared to the other phases (p < 0.01). A very strong correlation was found between serum and saliva PG (r = 0.914, p < 0.001), although a bit weaker but still, a significant relationship was observed between serum and saliva E2 (r = 0.755, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These results showed that in female athletes with normal menstrual cycle, saliva E2 and PG may offer a practical non-invasive alternative to serum concentrations which is interesting for menstrual cycle monitoring and particularly for ovulation checking in a population of female athletes during either training or competition periods. AMA grant; IFCE grant