School of Dentistry, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
J Appl Oral Sci. 2012 Mar-Apr;20(2):157-61. doi: 10.1590/s1678-77572012000200006.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical criteria for the diagnosis of hyposalivation in hospitalized patients.
A clinical study was carried out on 145 subjects (48 males; 97 females; aged 20 to 90 years). Each subject was clinically examined, in the morning and in the afternoon, along 1 day. A focused anamnesis allowed identifying symptoms of hyposalivation, like xerostomia complaints (considered as a reference symptom), chewing difficulty, dysphagia and increased frequency of liquid intake. Afterwards, dryness of the mucosa of the cheeks and floor of the mouth, as well as salivary secretion during parotid gland stimulation were assessed during oral examination.
Results obtained with Chi-square tests showed that 71 patients (48.9%) presented xerostomia complaints, with a significant correlation with all hyposalivation symptoms (p <0.05). Furthermore, xerostomia was also significantly correlated with all data obtained during oral examination in both periods of evaluation (p<0.05).
Clinical diagnosis of hyposalivation in hospitalized patients is feasible and can provide an immediate and appropriate therapy avoiding further problems and improving their quality of life.
本研究旨在评估临床标准诊断住院患者唾液分泌减少症的有效性。
对 145 名受试者（48 名男性；97 名女性；年龄 20 至 90 岁）进行了一项临床研究。每位受试者在一天内的上午和下午分别进行临床检查。详细的病史询问可以识别唾液分泌减少症的症状，如口干（被认为是参考症状）、咀嚼困难、吞咽困难和液体摄入频率增加。之后，在口腔检查中评估颊黏膜和口底的干燥程度以及腮腺刺激时的唾液分泌情况。
卡方检验结果显示，71 名患者（48.9%）出现口干症状，与所有唾液分泌减少症症状均呈显著相关（p<0.05）。此外，口干症状也与两个评估时段的口腔检查中获得的所有数据均显著相关（p<0.05）。
对住院患者唾液分泌减少症的临床诊断是可行的，可提供即时和适当的治疗，避免进一步的问题并提高他们的生活质量。
