Association between xerostomia, oral and general health, and obesity in adults. A cross-sectional pilot study

The objective of this study was to analyse the association between oral and general health variables and obesity indicators with the sensation of dry mouth or xerostomia as evaluated on the Xerostomia Inventory (XI).

A total of 354 randomly selected subjects participated in this cross-sectional pilot study and completed an anonymous questionnaire. Anthropometric, clinical, and xerostomic variables were evaluated. Kruskal-Wallis, ANOVA and Bonferroni test were used for multiple comparisons. ROC curves and multinomial logistic regression were used to determine the (OR) risk of xerostomia.

A total of 30.7 % of respondents reported xerostomia based on XI. The dry mouth question, the XI taken as a "gold standard", showed a diagnostic sensitivity of 70.37 %, and a specificity of 83.27 % (AUC=0.768, p<0.001). Logistical regression showed the highest xerostomia OR was associated to patients with bad self-perceived health, 6.31 (CI 95% 2.89-13.80, p<0.001). In the model adjusted for tooth mobility, bone or respiratory diseases, and the consumption of anxiolytics and antidepressants, the OR was 3.46 (CI 95% 1.47-8.18, p=0.005).

a high prevalence of xerostomia was found in this cross-sectional pilot study, which was significantly more frequent in women, and increased with age. Xerostomia was associated to several systemic diseases, psychological conditions, and oral functional disorders such as tooth mobility. These preliminary results can serve as the basis for developing guidelines for the application of innovative measures designed to improve the quality of life of individuals with xerostomia.