Serum, salivary and urinary cortisol level in the evaluation of adrenocortical function in-patients with bronchial asthma

56 patients with bronchial asthma (32 women and 24 men) and 31 healthy volunteers (19 women and 12 men) were investigated. The evaluation of the usefulness of salivary and urinary cortisol levels and urinary cortisol metabolites in 24-hr urine was conducted using the correlation coefficient between the cortisol level in the salivary or urine and that in blood serum. Very high correlation was found between the serum and salivary cortisol level (r=0.817). The correlation coefficient between the serum and urinary cortisol level in basal conditions was 0.759, while that between the saliva and urinary level was 0.723. A moderate degree of correlation (r=0.381) was demonstrated between serum cortisol level and 17-OHCS in urine. From these results it was concluded that salivary and urinary free cortisol level estimations may be a useful and non-invasive screening method of evaluating the glucocorticoid function of the adrenal cortex in asthma patients.