Comparison of salivary testosterone levels in different phases of bipolar I disorder and control group.

Background: Testosterone is considered as a primary sex hormone, also known as an important anabolic steroid, that may involve in various mental disorders such as bipolar I disorder (BID). The goal of this study was to compare the testosterone salivary levels between different phases of BID and its association with the clinical features of BID.

Materials and Methods: In a case-control study, 15 patients in the mania phase, 10 patients in the depression phase, and 16 in the euthymia phase were selected as patient groups. 18 healthy sex- and age-matched individuals were considered as healthy control group. Salivary samples obtained from all patients and control group and levels of testosterone were determined in saliva using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. All statistical calculations were conducted with the software Statistical Package for Social Science version 20 (IBM Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).

Results: The mean testosterone level in euthymia phase was 186.34 ± 182.62 pg/mL, mania phase was 239.29 ± 273.22 pg/mL, depression was 153.49 ± 222.50 pg/mL, and healthy participants was 155.73 ± 126.0 pg/mL; no significant difference was found between groups ( P = 0.68.(No statistically significant differences were found between psychotic and nonpsychotic as well as between patients who attempted suicide and nonattempter patients in terms of testosterone levels ( P > 0.1).

Conclusion: Our findings do not reveal significant difference between different phases of BID in terms of salivary testosterone levels. However, more comprehensive studies with larger sample size are required to confirm our findings.