Evaluation of Salivary Cortisol and Anxiety Levels in Myofascial Pain Dysfunction Syndrome

Methods: Twenty patients suffering from myofascial pain were recruited as the study group. The same number of age and sex matched healthy individuals were taken as the control group. The salivary samples collected between 9−9:15 am from both groups were analyzed for cortisol levels with the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Anxiety levels of 40 patients were measured using Hamilton’s anxiety scale. Results: The mean serum cortisol level of the MPDS group showed a highly significant difference (P ＜ 0.001) from the controls. The mean anxiety scores of the MPDS group showed a highly significant difference (P ＜ 0.001) from the controls. A positive correlation was found between anxiety and the salivary cortisol levels in MPDS patients. Conclusions: These findings suggest that anxiety plays a vital role in the etio-pathogenesis of MPDS; thus, besides pharmacological treatment, psychological support is also needed. (Korean J Pain 2014; 27: 30-34)