SUN-142 - What Drives Variability in Salivary Progesterone Among Males?: An Exploratory Study in Outpatients with Cannabis Use Disorder

Background: Salivary progesterone (P4) in males remains poorly categorized, despite growing evidence that biological, environmental, and demographic variables significantly influence sex hormone patterns. Potential sources of variability include demographic characteristics, health status, medication use, substance use, and social roles. Little empirical work has examined these influences on male salivary P4 levels or their stability over time.

Methods: Archival data from male outpatients with cannabis use disorder (CUD; N=93) enrolled in an online cognitive behavioral therapy intervention at the Medical University of South Carolina were analyzed. Linear regression models examined trait-level correlates of (1) mean salivary P4 level per person and (2) within-person P4 variability (per-person standard deviation in P4 levels). Predictor variables included demographics (age, race, ethnicity, weight, BMI, partnered status, marital status, and fatherhood status), medication use (psychotropic medications, hormonal medications, and NSAIDs), clinical diagnoses (alcohol use disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder), and substance use (quantity and frequency of cannabis use). Outcome variables were log-transformed to improve normality.

Results: Most demographic and clinical sample characteristics, including age, marital status, ethnicity, BMI, and psychiatric diagnoses were not meaningfully associated with mean levels of salivary P4. However, use of hormonal medications was associated with greater day-to-day variability in salivary P4 (F(1,91)=4.9, p=0.03, R-squared=0.051). No other predictors were significantly linked to P4 variability.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that hormonal medications, even those not immediately involved in progesterone metabolic pathways, may meaningfully increase variability in male salivary P4 levels. Hormonal medications in this sample included levothyroxine sodium, finasteride, and injectable testosterone. In contrast, demographic, clinical, and social factors did not explain differences in either mean P4 levels or within-person variability. Although these findings should be interpreted cautiously given the modest sample size, they may suggest that medication status may be more relevant than social or relational factors when assessing salivary progesterone consistency in males. Future research with larger samples and in those without cannabis use disorder are necessary to fully understand the extent to which, and for whom, biological, environmental, and demographic variables influence male salivary P4 dynamics.

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