Potential benefit of nizatidine in female patients with idiopathic xerostomia: A pilot study

Xerostomia is a frequent salivary complaint, especially in elderly people, typically caused by Sjogren’s syndrome, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, radiation to the head and neck, chemotherapy, and different medications. Above all, drugs are the most common reason of reduced salivation, and the medications most commonly implicated are tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotics, atropinics, beta-blockers and antihistamines. Nizatidine is a histamine H2-receptor antagonist used in the treatment of peptic ulcer and gastro-esophageal reflux disease. In the past, salivary secretion has been reported to increase when nizatidine was administered to healthy volunteers, patients with dry mouth and patients with primary Sjo¨ gren’s syndrome. In the present study, we tried to analyze the efficacy of nizatidine on both dry mouth symptoms and salivary secretion in patients affected by idiopathic xerostomia.