Association of medications with burning mouth syndrome in Taiwanese aged patients

Background/purpose: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) occurs more frequently in middle-aged or elderly patients, especially the older female patients. It may relate to multiple medications in the older people. This study aimed to evaluate the association of polypharmacy with BMS. Materials and methods: Eighty BMS patients aged from 45 to 80 years were recruited into this study, and their medical data, especially the medication records, were collected and analyzed to assess the association of polypharmacy with BMS. Results: Of the 80 BMS patients, 14 did not take any medication, 38 took 1–4 medicines, 17 took 5–8 medicines, and 11 took ≥9 medicines. The mean number of medicines taken by each BMS patient is 4.49. For the 80 BMS patients, the mean number of medicines taken by each BMS patient was significantly higher in the older age group (7.00 ± 7.76; age ≥65 years; n = 31) than in the relatively younger age group (2.90 ± 2.95; age 45–64 years; n = 49) (P = 0.001). The similar result was also observed in the female BMS patients. We also found that psychotropics, gastroprotectors and gastrointestinal tract (GI)-associated drugs, and antihypertensives were the three most commonly used drugs in our 80 BMS patients. Among them, the relatively high frequencies of using anxiolytics and antidepressants in the psychotropics, and beta-blockers in the antihypertensives were observed. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that multiple medications (polypharmacy) may play an important role in the development of BMS, especially for the older female BMS patients.