Effectiveness of Thyme Honey in Management of Xerostomia in ESRD

February 9, 2022 updated by: Ain Shams University

Effectiveness of Thyme Honey in Management of Xerostomia in Geriatric Patients With ESRD: Longitudinal Prospective Clinical Biochemical Study

The oral health of older people has warranted considerable research attention in the last two to three decades. One of the most oral conditions that have been related to the elderly patients was xerostomia.

An elderly population that has a high rate of comorbid disease is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Among these pathologies, End stage renal disease (ESRD) stands out as a common serious age-related disease. ESRD is a chronic irreversible renal failure. It is known also as chronic kidney disease (CKD) Stage 6 or CKD 6. Xerostomia is relatively common in patients having ESRD with prevalence ranging from 28% to 67%.

Multiple pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures that have been tested in previous studies in order to improve xerostomia in patients with ESRD which were based on the stimulation of the salivary gland flow.

A new alternative for the control of xerostomia is the use of thyme honey, which is a propolis gel product with strong antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and immunomodulation effect. It is believed that the presence of honey in the oral cavity has a sialagogue effect, stimulating the salivary glands to produce more saliva, due to the high sugar concentration in honey.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether the use of thyme honey as mouth rinse will help in the treatment of xerostomia in geriatric patients with end-stage renal disease (symptom management).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Most patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis (HD) have to maintain a fluid-restricted diet in order to prevent fluid overload between dialysis sessions. . However, compliance to the fluid restriction is also influenced by other factors, such as hormonal derangements, social and psychological changes, thirst and xerostomia.

Xerostomia in ESRD is a multifactorial phenomenon and various mechanisms contribute to its development as direct uremic involvement of salivary glands, atrophy and fibrosis of the salivary glands, chemical inflammation, dehydration, mouth breathing. The other conditions that may cause dry mouth in uremic patients are retrograde parotitis, metabolic abnormalities, use of diuretics and due to inability of kidneys to reabsorb sodium and the resultant polyuria.

Xerostomia, the subjective feeling of oral dryness, is a symptom most frequently accompanied by either decreased salivary flow or an altered composition of saliva. Hyposalivation, on the other hand, is the objective measured reduction in salivary flow rate. Xerostomia is a relatively common complaint, particularly among older people, and can lead to major consequences with regard to the quality of their general and oral health and wellbeing.

Xerostomia has a variety of possible etiological factors; it is generally classified as having primary and secondary causes. Primary causes comprise conditions that directly affect the salivary glands and induce xerostomia like, Sjogren's syndrome, diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2, thyroid disease, adrenal pathology, renal or hepatic diseases, hepatitis C virus infection, and HIV disease.

Secondary causes of xerostomia include the side-effects of radiation therapy or chemotherapy, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, mixed connective tissues diseases, systemic lupus erythematous, graft versus host disease, anorexia, alcohol and smoking and commonly prescribed drugs (>500 medications reportedly cause dry mouth). The most common medications causing hyposalivation are those with anticholinergic activity, sympathomimetics, and benzodiazepines. The risk of xerostomia increases with the synergistic effects of xerogenic medications, multiple medications, higher doses of medication, and the duration of the medication.

Saliva plays an important role in maintaining the physiological homeostasis of the oral cavity. In addition to humidifying the oral tissues, its lubricating properties aid in swallowing and talking, and also prevent damage due to mechanical agents. Saliva contains a variety of electrolytes, peptides, glycoproteins, enzymes, immunoglobulin A, amines, and leucocytes.

Owing to the multiple functions of saliva, hyposalivation leads to speech problems, taste disorders, chewing and swallowing difficulties, ill-fitting dentures and consequently poor qualities of life. Furthermore, hyposalivation results in decreased oral clearance, declined salivary pH and buffering capacity, and reduced immune defenses. These symptoms may increase risks of developing infectious oral diseases such as cervical caries, periodontitis and oral candidiasis.

Among saliva constituents, the nitric oxide (NO) is a biochemical marker that involved in both physiological and pathological processes of the salivary glands. High concentrations of nitrate and nitrite (stable metabolites of NO) in normal saliva may ensure potentially protective effects, such as antibacterial properties, increased mucosal blood flow, and oral mucus production.

Multiple pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures that have been tested in previous studies in order to improve xerostomia in patients with ESRD which were based on the stimulation of the salivary gland flow. Salivary glands can be stimulated to produce saliva mechanically (for example, by chewing gum, using different formulated mouthwashes or acupressure) or through medications (such as pilocarpine, cevimeline, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor antagonists.

Overall, the available interventions do not appear to provide an effective, comprehensive and long-term management of xerostomia. This has strengthened the need for further investigation of other interventions for the management of xerostomia.

A new alternative for the control of xerostomia is the use of thyme honey, which is a propolis gel product with strong antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal and immunomodulation effect. It is believed that the presence of honey in the oral cavity has a sialagogue effect, stimulating the salivary glands to produce more saliva, due to the high sugar concentration in honey.

Honey has been used historically for its medicinal properties. It has been used to heal burns, surgical wounds, and oral infections because of its antibacterial and analgesic agents and epithelialization boosting effect. Honey has no side effects like other pharmaceutical drugs due to its properties.

As Egypt is considered a low-income country, therefore, the general properties of ideal saliva substitutes to be used should be inexpensive, edible, hydrating, safe-to-swallow but retainable in the mouth.

Given the importance of the oral health status of older people with ESRD associated with xerostomia and thinking that the saliva substitutes or stimulants could potentially be used to decrease this complaint, thus, the urge to drink in hemodialysis patients. This may increase compliance to the fluid-restricted diet and could, subsequently, result in improvement in their quality of life. This study is designed to evaluate the efficiency of different and natural treatment as thyme honey in management of geriatric Egyptian patients with xerostomia and its association to the level of salivary nitric oxide.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Egypt
      • Cairo, Egypt, 11668
        • Ain shams university

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

61 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Both genders, of minimum 61 years.

    • All patients must be clinically diagnosed of ESRD undergoing hemodialysis.
    • Patients on hemodialysis ≥ 3 months (Bots et al., 2005).
    • All patients must have complaint of xerostomia.
    • Objective dry mouth score from ( 2-5).
    • Subjective dry mouth score from (1-4).
    • Patients must be able to make reliable decision or communications.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • - Smoking, Alcohol. Healthy patients.
  • Patient with history of any serious illness as malignancy, who undergo kidney transplant.
  • Patients with any autoimmune disease.
  • Patients with diabetes mellitus (Charalambous et al., 2017).
  • Vulnerable groups such as pregnant females, prisoners, mentally and physically handicapped individuals.
  • Known hypersensitivity or severe adverse effects to the treatment drugs or to any ingredient of their preparation.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Thyme honey interventional arm in geriatric patients having end-stage renal disease.
Thyme honey used as mouth rinse in treatment of xerostomia in geriatric patients with end-stage renal disease.
Other: Thyme honey
  • Thyme honey will topically be applied to the oral mucosa as oral rinse based on the Biswal et al. (2003) administration protocol.
  • Based on this protocol, patients will have oral rinses (20 ml of thyme honey diluted in 100 ml of purified water) 3 times per day.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in subjective dry mouth score
Time Frame: one month
Changes in subjective dry mouth score [ Time Frame: baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after intervention] The outcome measure (subjective dry mouth score) will be measured before and 2 and 4 weeks after continuous usage of thyme honey mouth rinse (for at least 5 days per week)
one month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Increase in unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate (ml/min)
Time Frame: one month
Increase in unstimulated Salivary Flow Rate (ml/min) [ Time Frame: baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after intervention ] The outcome measure will be measured before and 2 and 4 weeks after continuous usage of thyme honey mouth rinse (for at least 5 days per week)
one month
Increase in salivary Nitric oxide levels (mmol/L) using clorimetric determination method
Time Frame: one month
Increase in salivary Nitric oxide levels (mmol/L) using clorimetric determination method [ Time Frame: baseline and 4 weeks after intervention] The outcome measure will be measured before and 4 weeks after continuous usage of thyme honey mouth rinse (for at least 5 days per week).
one month
Changes in objective dry mouth score
Time Frame: one month
Changes in objective dry mouth score [ Time Frame: baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after intervention] The outcome measure will be measured before and 2 and 4 weeks after continuous usage of thyme honey mouth rinse (for at least 5 days per week)
one month
Changes in salivary Potential of Hydrogen ion (pH)
Time Frame: one month
Changes in salivary Potential of Hydrogen ion (pH) [ Time Frame: baseline, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after intervention ] The outcome measure will be measured before and 2 and 4 weeks after continuous usage of thyme honey mouth rinse (for at least 5 days per week)
one month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Ain Shams University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 10, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

October 10, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 29, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 9, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

February 18, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 18, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 9, 2022

Last Verified

February 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 972

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

IPD Plan Description

will not share my raw data

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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