192 Chapter 9 As for the consistency of salivary substitutes, most of the respondents preferred thin-watery consistency (52.5%) followed by gel-like consistency (33.9%). Only 8.5% of respondents preferred a thick-liquid consistency. Age or XI-groups did not influence the preference of the consistency. In Table 2, the objections of the respondents against the presence of certain ingredients are reported. The respondents mainly objected against the presence of “artificial sweeteners”, “alcohol”, “foaming agents”, and “preservatives”. They objected less against the presence of “vegetable-based ingredients”, “natural enzymes”, and “fluoride”. The two XI-groups only showed a significant difference with regard to the objections against vegetablebased ingredients (Mann–Whitney U test p < 0.05). Respondents with relatively low xerostomia (mean = 1.31 ± 0.89, median = 1.0 ± 1.0–1.0, N = 29) had less objections against the presence of vegetable-based ingredients than the respondent with more severe xerostomia (mean = 1.86 ± 1.27, median = 1.0 ± 1.0–3.0, N = 28). Table 2: Sjögren’s syndrome patients objections against certain ingredients in saliva substitutes, using a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 = “No objection’’ to 5 = “Insurmountable objections’’). Data are expressed as mean score with standard deviation (SD.) and as median scores with the corresponding interquartile range (IQR). N indicates the number of participants in each group. Potential ingredients Total mean ± SD. (N) Total median ± IQR Alcohol 3.39 ± 1.46 (N=57) 3.0 ± 5.0-2.0 Preservatives 3.14 ± 1.38 (N=57) 3.0 ± 5.4-2.0 Fluoride 3.03 ± 1.47 (N=57) 1.0 ± 3.0-1.0 Urea 2.82 ± 1.17 (N=57) 3.0 ± 3.0-2.0 Foaming agents 3.30 ± 1.35 (N=57) 3.0 ± 2.5-4.0 Artificial sweeteners 3.40 ± 1.52 (N=57) 4.0 ± 5.0-2.0 Gluten 2.67 ± 1.57 (N=57) 3.0 ± 4.0-1.0 Natural enzymes 1.72 ± 1.22 (N=57) 1.0 ± 5.2-1.0 Vegetable-based ingredients 1.58 ± 1.12 (N=57) 1.0 ± 2.0-1.0 Ingredients from chicken eggs 2.32 ± 1.38 (N=57) 2.0 ± 3.0-1.0 Ingredients from cattle 2.58 ± 1.40 (N=57) 3.0 ± 5.3-1.0 Ingredients from pigs 3.04 ± 1.49 (N=57) 3.0 ± 1.5-4.5 Ingredients from fish 2.82 ± 1.42 (N=56) 3.0 ± 4.0-1.0
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw