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Published on: December 18, 2013
Sedative load and salivary secretion and xerostomia in community-dwelling older people
Antti Tiisanoja1, Anna-Maija Syrjälä1,2, Kaija Komulainen3,4
1Department of Periodontology and Geriatric Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Objective:
The aim was to investigate how sedative load and the total number of drugs used are related to hyposalivation and xerostomia among 75-year-old or older dentate, non-smoking, community-dwelling people.
Materials And Methods:
The study population consisted of 152 older people from the Oral Health GeMS study. The data were collected by interviews and clinical examinations during 2004-2005. Sedative load, which measures the cumulative effect of taking multiple drugs with sedative properties, was calculated using the Sedative Load Model.
Results:
The results showed that participants with a sedative load of either 1-2 or ≥3 had an increased likelihood of having low stimulated salivary flow (<0.7 ml/min; OR: 2.4; CI: 0.6-8.6 and OR: 11; CI: 2.2-59; respectively) and low unstimulated salivary flow (<0.1 ml/min; OR: 2.7, CI: 1.0-7.4 and OR: 4.5, CI: 1.0-20, respectively) compared with participants without a sedative load. Participants with a sedative load ≥3 had an increased likelihood of having xerostomia (OR: 2.5, CI: 0.5-12) compared with participants without a sedative load. The results showed that the association between the total number of drugs and hyposalivation was weaker than the association between sedative load and hyposalivation.
Conclusion:
Sedative load is strongly related to hyposalivation and to a lesser extent with xerostomia. The adverse effects of drugs on saliva secretion are specifically related to drugs with sedative properties.
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