Prevalence of xerostomia in patients with a history of COVID-19 infection: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Dysfunction of salivary glands in patients with a history of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection are a prevalent clinical finding. However, the impact of these salivary disorders on the clinical experience of xerostomia has been less frequently investigated. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of xerostomia in patients recovered from COVID-19. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, data were collected through interviews with 350 patients referred to the Department of Dentistry at Urmia from March to August 2023 who had a history of COVID-19 infection. Demographic information, previous systemic diseases, medication history, and history of COVID-19 infection were provided by patients through a checklist of preliminary descriptive information. The Persian version of the Fox et al questionnaire was used to assess xerostomia, and the Thomson et al questionnaire was used to assess the severity of xerostomia. The total scores were used to evaluate the severity of xerostomia. The final data were entered into SPSS version 29 for analysis. Results: Participants were 211 males and 139 females with a mean age of 32.19±12.14 years. The mean xerostomia score in patients based on the Thomson Index was 21.7±7.50 out of 44. No significant difference in xerostomia severity was observed between males and females (P=0.278), but with increasing age, the likelihood of xerostomia occurrence increased (P=0.009). The severity of xerostomia was significantly higher in recipients of the Sinopharm vaccine compared to recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine (P=0.028). Still, no difference was observed between the frequency of vaccinations and the severity of xerostomia (P=0.757). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, age and type of vaccine can have an impact on the severity of xerostomia after contracting COVID-19 infection. Therefore, the type of received vaccine and the age of the patient during vaccination and assessments of patients should be considered.