Salivary flow and xerostomia in elderly patients type 2 diabetes

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the salivary flow rate and xerostomia in patients with type 2 mellitus diabetes and to compare with nondiabetic control subjects. Methods: The salivary flow rate and xerostomia in 65 patients were identified. 34 subjects were type 2 mellitus diabetic and 31 was nondiabetics. Anamnesis and clinical exam in all subjects were realized. The study plan had been approved by the ethics committee of University Hospital/UFPB. Descriptive analyses were performed and the Student t test and Fischer”s test were used to compare the mean. Results: Of patients with diabetes, 29,4% were male and 70,6% female, with mean of age 68,6 ± 6,8. 55,9% patients with diabetes and 29,0% control subjects had xerostomia. The difference was statistically significant with p=0,45. The mean of rest salivary flow (RSF) in diabetics was 0,22 ± 0,13 ml/min and of stimulated salivary flow (SSF), was 1,45 ± 0,84 ml/min. Of control subjects the mean of rest salivary flow was 0,28 ± 0,21 ml/min, and of stimulated salivary flow was 1,93±1,10 ml/min. The differences were not significant with p=0,20 and p=0,53 for RSF and SSF, respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that the elderly patients with diabetes didn't present salivary dysfunction when compared to the control group. The subject xerostomia was more prevalence in diabetic patients and presented correlation with rest salivary flow and age were associated in both groups.