Salivary Total Antioxidant and Lipid Peroxidation Levels in Passive Smoking and Nonsmoking Adolescents

Abstract

<span><strong>Background: </strong><span>Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is one of the most toxic environmental exposures and<br /><span>passive smoking is an important general health problem. Children are the most vulnerable group to ETS<br /><span>exposure. This study aimed to compare the salivary total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and lipid peroxidation<br /><span>levels in passive smoking and nonsmoking adolescents aged 12-15 years.<br /><span><strong>Methods: </strong><span>This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 80 adolescents aged 12-15 years. The case group < br /><span>included passive smokers and the control group comprised nonsmokers. These groups were age- and<br /><span>sex-matched ones. Unstimulated saliva of both groups was collected using the spitting method. Then, the<br /><span>salivary total antioxidant and lipid peroxidation levels were measured using the ferric-reducing antioxidant<br /><span>power (FRAP) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assays, respectively. The independent<br /><span>samples t-test was used for data comparison.<br /><span><strong>Findings: </strong><span>There was a significant difference in salivary total antioxidant levels between the case group < br /><span>(51.98 ± 88.97 µM) and the control group (174.35 ± 148.15 µM) (P = 0.003). There was no significant<br /><span>difference between the case group (0.97 ± 1.96) and the control group (0.81 ± 0.97) in lipid peroxidation<br /><span>levels (P = 0.542).<br /><span><strong>Conclusion: </strong><span>It seems that passive smoking can reduce the salivary TAC of adolescents, thereby threatening<br /><span>oral cavity health</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span></span></span></span></span>