# Evaluation and Comparison of Cortisol Levels in Saliva and Hair among Dental Students
## 3 Results  
A total of 151 students, 79 males and 72 females, participated in the study after providing written consent. Table 1 describes the comparison of mean values of cortisol levels in saliva at two different time intervals for the participating students. The mean and standard deviation of the cortisol levels at the first and second visits were 1.54 + 0.57 and 1.30 + 0.69, respectively. The comparisons revealed significant difference (\(p\) = 0.001) between the cortisol levels at the two time intervals (Table 1). Figure 2: Collection tools for hair samples and some hair collections. The average cortisol levels in the saliva of the participating students at two distinct time periods are compared by gender in Figure 3. For the male subjects, the mean and standard deviation of the cortisol levels on the first and second visits were \(1.79\) + \(0.50\) and \(1.28\) + \(0.67\), respectively. For the male subjects, the comparisons showed a significant difference (\(p\) = 0.000) between the cortisol levels at the two time points. For the female subjects, the mean and standard deviation of the cortisol levels on the first and second visits were, respectively, \(1.26\) + \(0.50\) and \(1.31\) + \(0.73\). The comparisons showed that there was no statistically significant difference (\(p\) = 0.585) between the cortisol levels for the female subjects at the two time points (Figure 3). The comparison of the mean cortisol levels in hair samples taken from the participating students at two distinct time points is shown in Table 2. At the first and second visits, the mean and standard deviation of the cortisol levels were \(1.21\) + \(0.78\) and \(0.78\) + \(0.61\), respectively. The comparisons between the cortisol levels at the two time intervals showed a significant difference (\(p\) = 0.000). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Saliva** & **Mean** & **Std.** & **Std. Error** & **Paired** & **\(\mathbf{\ast\ast}\)\(p\)-Value** \\
**Collection** & & **Deviation** & **Mean** & **Differences** & \\ \hline First Visit & 1.543 & 0.574 & 0.046 & & \\ \hline Second Visit & 1.302 & 0.699 & 0.056 & & \\ \hline Overall & 1.422 & 0.636 & 0.051 & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Mean value was recorded in microliters; **\(p\)**-value was significant at \(p\) < 0.05.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Cortisol levels in saliva at different time intervals for the participating students (N-151). Figure 3: Gender wise comparison of cortisol levels in saliva for the participating students (N-151). In Figure 4, the average cortisol levels in the participating students' hair samples taken at two different times are contrasted by gender. The mean and standard deviation of the cortisol levels on the first and second visits for the male participants were 1.44 + 0.79 and 0.68 + 0.57, respectively. The comparisons revealed a significant difference (\(p\) = 0.000) between the cortisol levels at the two time points for the males. On the first and second visits, respectively, the mean and standard deviation of the cortisol levels for the female participants were 0.96 + 0.70 and 0.90 + 0.63. The comparisons revealed that the cortisol levels for the female patients at the two time points did not differ statistically significantly (\(p\) = 0.568) (Figure 4). Table 3 presents a comparison of the cortisol levels in the saliva and hair specimens of the participating subjects at the two time intervals of specimen collection. Interestingly, the comparisons between the cortisol levels of the two specimen collections at the two different time intervals indicated substantial variations (\(p\) = 0.000). Additional in-depth analysis of the gender comparisons of the saliva and hair cortisol levels at the two time points likewise supported the significant (\(p\) < 0.05) differences (Table 4). These results confirm that there are variations in the cortisol levels in the saliva and hair samples among the sample of students.