A preliminary study on submariners with xerostomia after a 3-month deployment

Abstract

To observe the clinical manifestations and salivary secretion of xerostomia patients in submariners who engaged in a three-month deployment. The general conditions and clinical examination of the 136 submariners were evaluated, by which the patients with xerostomia were screened out and their clinical manifestations were recorded. Besides, the flow rate of unstimulated saliva and stimulated saliva was measured and calculated. Subsequently, the related factors of xerostomia were quantitatively classified and statistically analyzed. In all the involved submariners, 42 were diagnosed to have xerostomia by physical examination after they returned from the task, among which 71.4% showed a decrease in unstimulated salivary flow rate and it was significantly correlated with the accompanying symptoms and their general conditions. Therefore, it was concluded that the occurrence of xerostomia could be related to the service life and job responsibilities of the submariners. The main manifestations were the reduction of unstimulated salivary secretion and the accompanying clinical symptoms such as cheilosis and angular cheilitis. Noticeably, the high psychological pressure and harsh living conditions need to be concerned, and further study should place more concentrations on these comprehensive influence factors and preventive actions of xerostomia.