Журнал фармаконадзора

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Drug-Induced Xerostomia: The Physical, Mental, and Economic Impact

Leticia A. Shea, Vahram Ghushchyan, Madalyn Kuhlenberg

Background: Many medications utilized in the United States (US) cause xerostomia (dry mouth); however, the costs and Quality Of Life (QOL) reduction associated with this side effect remains to be determined.

Objective: To estimate the annual dental expenditures and quality of life burden attributable to chronic use of medications that cause xerostomia in the US adult population.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional retrospective analysis evaluating prescribed medications in 2019 as reported by the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Medications were organized in 2 groups: medications with and without documentation of xerostomia. The treatment group included the US non-institutionalized adult population with chronic use of xerostomia causing medications. The control group included the rest of the US non-institutionalized adult population. Dental visits per year, total annual dental expenditures, and annual self-pay (out-of-pocket) dental expenditures were compared between treatment and control populations. Health related physical and mental quality of life scores were also compared.

Results: Those in the treatment group exhibited a 33.3% higher expected rate of dental visits per year. Treatment populations also incurred higher dental expenditures $523.830/year vs. $315.78/year (p<0.001), and self- expenditures $266 vs. $131/year (p<0.001). Importantly, the treatment arm has lower physical and mental health, are older and sicker, thus, an adjusted analysis was necessary. Following the adjusted analysis, the difference of 1.3 (p<0.001) for physical and 2.0 (p<0.001) for mental summary scores remained.

Conclusion: This study shows that medications that cause xerostomia result in higher dental costs and have a negative impact on physical and mental health.