Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Oct 27;21(1):552.
doi: 10.1186/s12903-021-01917-1.

Detection of xerostomia, Sicca, and Sjogren's syndromes in a national sample of adults

Indre Stankeviciene  1 , Alina Puriene  1 , Diana Mieliauskaite  2 , Lina Stangvaltaite-Mouhat  3   4 , Jolanta Aleksejuniene  5
Affiliations

Detection of xerostomia, Sicca, and Sjogren's syndromes in a national sample of adults

Indre Stankeviciene et al. BMC Oral Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and determinants of xerostomia among adults and identify how many of the ones experiencing xerostomia have Sicca and Sjogren's syndromes.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study included 1405 35-74-year-old Lithuanians (51.7% response rate) from the five largest Lithuanian cities and 10 peri-urban and rural areas that were randomly selected from each of the 10 Lithuanian counties. Xerostomia was determined by the self-reported experience of dry mouth as "often" or "always". A dentist diagnosed Sicca syndrome by unstimulated whole sialometry and the Schirmer's test, and all cases were referred to a rheumatologist to confirm Sjogren's syndrome. Self-reported questionnaires collected data about the determinants.

Results: The prevalence of xerostomia was 8.0% (n = 112), Sicca syndrome was diagnosed for 8 participants (0.60%), and Sjogren's syndrome for 2 participants (0.14%), with this being the first time it was diagnosed. Experiencing xerostomia was associated with older age (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.6), urban residence (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.6-5.0), presence of systemic diseases (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.4-3.3), and the use of alcohol (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.9). The higher proportion of participants with Sicca syndrome involved females, of older age, having systemic diseases, and using medications.

Conclusions: The prevalence of xerostomia was 8.0% and the determinants of xerostomia were older age, urban residence, systemic diseases, and absence of using alcohol. In total, 0.6% of participants had Sicca syndrome, which was more prevalent among females, older subjects, those with systematic diseases, and those using medications. Sjogren's syndrome was diagnosed in 0.14% of participants. Clinical relevance Dental clinicians need to be trained to identify potential Sjogren's syndrome cases.

Keywords: Adults; Saliva; Sicca syndrome; Sjogren's syndrome; Xerostomia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the selection of the participants with Sicca syndrome
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Han P, Suarez-Durall P, Mulligan R. Dry mouth: a critical topic for older adult patients. J Prosthodont Res. 2015;59:6–19. doi: 10.1016/j.jpor.2014.11.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Appleby NJ, Temple-Smith MJ, Stacey MA, Bailey DL, Deveny EM, Pirotta M. General practitioners' knowledge and management of dry mouth - A qualitative study. Aust Fam Physician. 2016;45(12):902–906. - PubMed
    1. Hopcraft MS, Tan C. Xerostomia: an update for clinicians. Aust Dent J. 2010;55:238–244. doi: 10.1111/j.1834-7819.2010.01229.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Niklander S, Veas L, Barrera C, Fuentes F, Chiappini G, Marshall M. Risk factors, hyposalivation and impact of xerostomia on oral health-related quality of life. Braz Oral Res. 2017;31:e14. doi: 10.1590/1807-3107bor-2017.vol31.0014. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Donaldson M, Goodchild J. A systematic approach to xerostomia diagnosis and management. Compend Contin Educ Dent. 2018;35:1–10. - PubMed

Publication types