SALIVARY FLOW AND COMPOSITION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS REFERRED TO AN ACUTE-CARE GERIATRIC WARD

Objective. The purpose of this investigation was to study oral health and salivary aspects of the frail elderly. The study hypothesis was th at elderly patients with many concomitant diseases and drugs would hav e different salivary secretion rates and biochemical constituents than healthier patients. Study design, The stimulated flow, pH buffering c apacity, and biochemical constituents were analyzed from salivas of 16 9 elderly subjects (51 men and 118 women, mean age 81.2 years, range 6 9 to 96 years) admitted to an acute geriatric ward because of sudden w orsening of their health. Common statistical methods were used to anal yze the differences among patient groups. The patients were grouped ac cording to the number of concomitant diseases and daily used drugs and on the basis of salivary flow rate values. Results. Reduced salivary flow (<0.7 ml/min) was found in 48% of the men and 62.5% of the women, and a low buffering capacity was found in 31.9% of the men and 36.7% of the women. Age did not significantly affect the salivary flow rate. The factors that showed the strongest influence on salivary flow were endocrinologic diseases, ophthalmologic and respiratory drugs, and po tassium chloride. Salivary immunoglobulin A and immunoglobulin M conce ntrations were significantly higher in older patients. Immunoglobulin A, lysozyme, and amylase concentrations were significantly higher in t he older patients taking many drugs. Patients with many concomitant di seases had significantly higher salivary urea concentrations than heal thier patients. Edentulous patients had significantly higher salivary immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin M, lysozyme, and amylase concentratio ns. Conclusions, In this study, hyposalivation was a frequent observat ion, and the elderly who took many drugs and had several systemic dise ases had higher concentrations of most of the analyzed biochemical con stituents.