EFFECT OF CHEWING GUM ON XEROSTOMIA, THIRST AND INTERDIALYTIC WEIGHT GAIN IN PATIENTS ON HAEMODIALYSIS.

Background: Patients on maintenance intermittent haemodialysis (IHD) have a high prevalence of xerostomia (dry mouth) and difficulty in fluid restriction. Excess fluid intake leads to increased interdialytic weight gain (IDWG), which necessitates greater fluid removal during each haemodialysis session, contributing to inadequate fluid removal, fluid overload, and increased mortality risk. To investigate the effect of sugar-free chewing gum on the xerostomia inventory scor Aim: e, dialysis thirst inventory score, and interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) in patients who were on maintenance intermittent haemodialysis. Methods: This study was a prospective single group intervention study. Xerostomia and thirst were assessed by validated questionnaires like xerostomia inventory (XI) and dialysis thirst inventory (DTI), at baseline and after two weeks of sugar free chewing gum use, interdialytic weight gain (IDWG) was calculated by using the average of three IDWG values at baseline and after two weeks of chewing gum use. Results: 89 IHD patients (63 men, 49.5 ±12.24 years; 26 women, 50 ±13.69 years) were included in the study, use of chewing gum reduced XI from 16.18±10.55 to 13.02 ± 8.06 (P <0.001), DTI from 4.69±3.73 to 2.45 ±0.59 (P <0.001). IDWG did not show any significant reduction (2.45kgs±0.58 to 2.38kgs±0.54). XI showed a significant minimal clinically important difference (MCID) value of ≥6 in 28% of patients. The use of sugar-free Conclusion: chewing gum may help in reducing subjective thirst and xerostomia in the majority of patients and significant improvement as per minimal clinically important difference in >25% of patients, although without clinically significant change in interdialytic weight gain.