57 Differences in perceived intra-oral dryness Various dry-mouth patient groups The European Medical Risk-Related History questionnaire was completed by 517 patients in the total study sample. On the basis of their health status, we distinguished seven different groups of patients (Table 1). All patient groups were included in the statistical comparisons, except for the RTX + High Med group, due to its small number of patients (N = 6). Table 4 shows the different patient characteristics for all six patient groups. Low Med patients were the largest group, and RTX patients were the smallest. High Med patients had the highest mean age, while controls had the lowest. There were significantly higher percentages of women in the SS and SS + High Med patient groups than in the other four patient groups (Table 4). The number of medications used also differed significantly among the six patient groups; High Med and SS + High Med patients used the highest number of medications. All other patient groups used between zero and two medications (Table 4). Controls had significantly lower total XI scores than all other groups, indicating that the overall dry-mouth feeling they experienced was less. On the other hand, SS and SS + High Med patients had the highest XI scores, indicating that their dry-mouth feeling was significantly more severe than that of controls, Low Med patients, and High Med patients (Table 4). With regard to the salivary flow rates, there was a trend whereby controls and Low Med patients had the highest salivary flow rates for UWS, CH-SWS, and A-SWS, while SS and SS + High Med patients had the lowest (Table 4). The difference among the patient groups with the highest and lowest flow rate was significant for UWS, CH-SWS, and A-SWS. Only the pH of A-SWS differed significantly from that in the various patient groups, being significantly higher in controls and Low Med patients than in SS and SS + High Med patients. Overall, these results indicate that controls and Low Med patients had the highest salivary flow rates and pH. These groups also experienced less overall dry-mouth feeling as measured with the XI. On the other hand, SS and SS + High Med patients had the lowest salivary flow rates and pH, indicating that their salivary glands produced less saliva and that their salivary pH was lower. Further, these patients had the highest XI scores, indicating that their overall dry-mouth feeling was more severe. 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw