Department of General Dentistry, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA.
Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2012 Jul;114(1):52-60. doi: 10.1016/j.oooo.2011.11.014. Epub 2012 May 4.
The goal of this article is to review existing research on the prevalence and etiology of dry mouth in the vulnerable elders and identify knowledge gaps.
Vulnerable elders (VE) are persons aged >65 years who have any or all of the following: limited mobility, limited resources, or complex health status. A systematic search was conducted of PubMed sources from 1989 to May 2010. Evidence was evaluated on the prevalence and etiology of xerostomia and salivary gland hypofunction (SGH) in VE.
The search identified 1,422 publications. The inclusion/exclusion criteria yielded 348 articles, 80 of which are cited herein.
Research has showed a high prevalence of xerostomia and SGH in VE. Common etiologies include medications, poor general health, female gender, and age. Gaps still exist in the evaluation of dry mouth in VE. Nonetheless, oral dryness will remain an important health issue as life expectancy increases.
本文旨在综述脆弱老年人口干症的患病率和病因研究，找出目前存在的知识空白。
脆弱老年人（VE）是指年龄＞65 岁，同时存在以下任何一项或多项情况的人群：活动能力受限、资源有限或健康状况复杂。对 1989 年至 2010 年 5 月期间的 PubMed 资源进行了系统检索。对 VE 患者口干症和唾液腺功能减退症（SGH）的患病率和病因进行了证据评估。
检索到 1422 篇文献。根据纳入/排除标准，最终纳入 348 篇文章，其中 80 篇在本文中引用。
研究表明，VE 患者口干症和 SGH 的患病率较高。常见病因包括药物、一般健康状况不佳、女性和年龄。尽管如此，在评估 VE 患者的口干症方面仍存在空白。然而，随着预期寿命的延长，口腔干燥仍将是一个重要的健康问题。
