PREVALENCE OF XEROSTOMIA
Reports of the prevalence of xerostomia in general population are not conclusive
and vary, ranging from 0.9% to 64.8%, mainly due to the small numbeof studies in
population-based samples [28].
However, the prevalence reaches almost 100% in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome
and those who are receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancer [29].
It has been shown that the prevalence increases with age and that xerostomia is
more prevalent in postmenopausal women compared to men [16,30]. It is estimated
that about 30% of the population older than 65 suffer from xerostomia [29]. Although
previous opinion that salivary function declines with aging process, it is now
accepted that salivary flow as well as salivary constituens are both age-stable in the