Effect of Diluted Thyme Honey On Dry Mouth In Intensive Care Unit Patients Exposed to Oxygen Flow Therapy

January 13, 2026 updated by: Esra Yaprak Gokturk

Effect of Diluted Thyme Honey On Dry Mouth In Intensive Care Unit Patients Exposed to Oxygen Flow Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Study

This research is a randomized, controlled, double-blind, experimental study conducted to investigate the effect of diluted thyme honey on dry mouth in individuals receiving treatment in intensive care and receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy.

H0: There is no significant difference in reducing dry mouth in intensive care patients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy between the intervention group receiving oral care with diluted thyme honey and the control group receiving standard oral care.

The study sample consisted of 64 inpatients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy in the Emergency Intensive Care and Emergency Critical Intensive Care Units of Ankara Training and Research Hospital. Patients were divided into groups using a sealed envelope method. Patients in the intervention group received oral care using diluted thyme honey, while patients in the control group received oral care using 0.9% NaCl.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

SUMMARY

Backround Dry mouth due to nasal oxygen flow therapy is one of the side effects frequently experienced by patients treated in intensive care units. Although there are various pharmacological and complementary medicine methods for the prevention and treatment of dry mouth, this condition continues to negatively affect the daily lives of patients due to the lack of a definitive method and the neglect of oral care.

Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of diluted thyme honey in preventing dry mouth in intensive care patients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy.

Desing This study has a randomized controlled experimental design.

Methods This study included 64 intensive care unit patients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy. It was a randomized controlled experimental study consisting of intervention (thyme honey) and control group (0.9% NaCl). Participants were randomized to the groups by closed envelope method. 32 patients were included in both groups. Patients in both groups included in the study underwent the same protocol steps except for the oral care product (thyme honey and 0.9% NaCl). After obtaining consent from the patients who agreed to be included in the study, information about the participants was collected by asking the Patient Information Form prepared by the researcher. The Subjective Dry Mouth Form was administered to the participants before the start of the study and at the end of the 3rd day when the application protocols were completed. After the applications were completed, the pre-test and post-test scores of the patients in response to each question in the 'Subjective Dry Mouth Evaluation Form' and their answers to an open-ended question about their opinions on thyme honey in the Patient Information Form were combined in the patient follow-up form.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

64

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

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Dışkapı
      • Ankara, Dışkapı, Turkey (Türkiye), 6070
        • Ankara University Institute of Health Sciences Department of Nursing

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being treated under intensive care conditions and receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy above 4L/min,
  • Over 18 years of age,
  • Not diagnosed with Sjögren's Syndrome,
  • No previous exposure to radiotherapy or chemotherapy,
  • Has not had a salivary gland infection,
  • Has not undergone an operation to remove the salivary glands,
  • Not allergic to honey,
  • No chewing or swallowing difficulties,
  • Not using thyme-containing products for oral care in the previous period,
  • Patients who did not have any communication problems and who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study were included in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients who did not meet the inclusion criteria and did not voluntarily agree to participate in the study were excluded.

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: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: diluted thyme honey arm
  • After obtaining informed consent from participants who agreed to participate in the study, they were asked to draw one sealed envelope from a bag containing sealed envelopes numbered from 1 to 64. The envelopes drawn by the patients were opened in their presence. The researcher determined whether the patients would be included in the intervention or control group based on the number drawn from the envelope.
  • Participants assigned to the intervention group were first given the Patient Information Form. Then, before starting the intervention, participants were asked questions from the "Subjective Dry Mouth Assessment Form" prepared by Duruk (2012) using the Visual Analogue Scale. Each point given in response to the questions was recorded in the Patient Follow-up Form.
  • Patients were educated on the importance of dry mouth, the types of foods and liquids to avoid, the necessity of adequate saliva secretion, the functions of saliva, methods of coping with dry mouth, and the necess
Other: diluted thyme honey arm
In this study, the feasibility of an alternative method for alleviating dry mouth, which is very important in terms of nursing care, was investigated. The effect of diluted thyme honey, which had not been previously studied, on dry mouth was investigated in intensive care patients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy in the intervention group. The control group received oral care using a standard oral care solution of 0.9% NaCl.
Other: Mouth wash
In this study, the usability of an alternative method for the elimination of dry mouth, which has a very important place in terms of nursing care, was investigated. The effect of diluted thyme honey on dry mouth in intensive care patients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy, which has not been previously studied in the literature, was investigated.
Placebo Comparator: 0.9% NaCl arm

After obtaining informed consent from participants who agreed to participate in the study, they were asked to draw one sealed envelope from a bag containing sealed envelopes with numbers ranging from 1 to 64 written on them. The envelopes drawn by the patients were opened in their presence. Patients were assigned to either the intervention or control group according to the number drawn from the envelope.

  • Participants in the control group were first given the Patient Information Form. Then, before starting the application, they were asked questions from the Subjective Dry Mouth Assessment Form. Each point given in response to the questions was recorded in the Patient Follow-up Form.
  • Patients were educated on the importance of dry mouth, the types of foods and liquids to avoid, the necessity of adequate saliva secretion, the functions of saliva, methods for coping with dry mouth, and the necessary precautions to identify and report any side effects that
Other: Mouth wash
In this study, the usability of an alternative method for the elimination of dry mouth, which has a very important place in terms of nursing care, was investigated. The effect of diluted thyme honey on dry mouth in intensive care patients receiving nasal oxygen flow therapy, which has not been previously studied in the literature, was investigated.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The Effect of Diluted Thyme Honey on Dry Mouth in Intensive Care Patients Receiving Nasal Oxygen Flow Therapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Time Frame: 9 week

The Subjective Dry Mouth Assessment Form was used to assess dry mouth. This form includes questions regarding symptoms such as "dry mouth," "difficulty swallowing," "difficulty speaking," "waking up from sleep," "dry tongue," "burning mouth," "burning throat," "dry throat," "thirst," "bad taste in the mouth," "saliva volume," and "bad breath." Responses are scored on a 0-10 scale using 11 Visual Analogue Scales (VAS). Scoring begins with 0 (not at all) and ends with 10 (extremely).

The Subjective Dry Mouth Assessment Form was administered to patients before the study began to gather patient information and determine their dry mouth levels. At the end of the third day, the Subjective Dry Mouth Assessment Form was administered to the patients, who underwent three days of treatment, and their dry mouth was re-evaluated. Data on the patients' dry mouth levels were collected before and after the study.
9 week

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Esra Yaprak Gokturk

Investigators

  • Study Director: ayten demir, assoc.prof.dr., Ankara 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)

October 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 30, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

November 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 21, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AnkaraU-esrayaprakgokturk01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

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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