Correlation of morning dry mouth with clinical features of OSA in a community population: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Morning dry mouth, commonly seen in Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) patients, is absent in current OSA screening tools. This study evaluated the link between morning dry mouth and OSA’s clinical symptoms and complications, aiming to determine its viability as a screening indicator.

Methods

This research analyses baseline data from a prospective cohort study (the PIFCOPD study). Demographic information, medical history, and the presence of morning dry mouth symptoms were collected. The STOP-Bang questionnaire was performed for OSA screening. Logistic regression analyses were employed to establish the correlations between morning dry mouth and the clinical symptoms and comorbidities of OSA.

Result

1291 participants (62.1±7.5 years; 501 males, 790 females) were included, of which 416 reported morning dry mouth (32.2%). 42.6% in the high-risk OSA group and 22.1% in the low-risk group reported morning dry mouth. Individuals with morning dry mouth also showed higher STOP-Bang scores (3.3±1.6 vs. 2.3±1.4, P<0.01). Significant associations were found between morning dry mouth and loud snoring, observed sleep apnea, daytime fatigue, and hyperlipidemia (P<0.01), but not with alcohol consumption, tea consumption, diabetes, or hypertension.

Conclusion

Morning dry mouth is associated with increased OSA risk and its clinical signs, suggesting its potential as an OSA screening symptom.

Clinical trial registration

This study has been registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov (registration identifier: NCT03532893) on 21 May 2018.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep apnea
• health care surveys
• dry mouth
• STOP-Bang questionnaire
• routine screening and assessment

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author contributions

Conceptualization and funding acquisition, J.L. and G.W.; methodology and project administration, J.L. and J.M.; investigation, X.M., C.Z., Y.W., K.Y., Z.J., C.Z.; writing – original draft X.M., C.Z.; writing – review and editing, J.L. and G.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. X.M. and C.Z. are co-first authors. X.M. and C.Z. contributed equally to this work.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00325481.2024.2303972

Ethics statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by Biomedical Ethics Committee of the First Hospital of Peking University (2018[31], 7 March 2018). Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by grant 2017YFC1309500 from the National Key Research and Development Plan sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China.