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The Xerostomia Inventory: a multi-item approach to measuring dry mouth
W M Thomson1, J M Chalmers, A J Spencer
1Department of Oral Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Objective:
To develop a valid multi-item method of measuring the symptoms of xerostomia which includes the wide range of xerostomia symptoms in a single quantitative measure.
Design:
A combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Setting:
A cohort study in South Australia.
Participants:
Older people aged 65 years or more who were taking part in the South Australian Dental Longitudinal Study.
Measures:
Xerostomia symptoms were evaluated using a multi-item inventory format and, for comparison purposes, a standard single dry-mouth question. Resting whole-salivary flow rate was estimated using the 'spit' method.
Results:
Xerostomia and flow-rate data were available for 636 individuals. Factor analysis revealed the presence of a discrete xerostomia dimension, represented by 11 items whose responses were summated to give a single Xerostomia Inventory (XI) scale score. This had a very low correlation with resting flow rate but a much stronger, positive correlation with the standard dry-mouth question responses.
Conclusions:
The XI shows adequate content and concurrent validity, and appears to be a promising advance on previous approaches to xerostomia symptomatology although further testing is required.