Adverse Oral Manifestations of Cardiovascular Drugs

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the frequency and nature of oral manifestations secondary to use of cardiovascular drugs. Methods: Six hundred and three patients attending the general medicine departments of Bapuji hospital and Chigeteri Government hospital, Davangere, were evaluated for oral signs and symptoms like oral dryness, alteration in the taste or burning sensation and they were clinically examined for the presence of any oral mucosal lesions such as lichenoid reactions, xerostomia, gingival enlargements, aphthous ulcers, angioedema etc. Data were statistically analyzed with chi-square tests. Results: Oral symptoms were recorded in 382 [67.4%] patients with xerostomia being the most common [25.5%], followed by dysgeusia [17.7%], combination of xerostomia with dysgeusia [12.4%] and burning sensation [6%]. Oral signs were noticed in 181 [39.7%] patients with clinically detectable xerostomia [15.3%] being the common, followed by gingival enlargement [9%] and lichenoid reaction [4.5%]. There were no statistically significant differences [p>0.05] was noticed between age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors and cardiac disease, whereas association between cardiovascular drugs and oral symptoms were statistically highly significant [p<0.01] and with the signs it was statistically significant [p=0.01]. Conclusions: The frequencies of oral manifestations in patients receiving cardiovascular drugs were 67.4% [symptoms] and 39.7% [signs] respectively. There was a significant correlation of oral manifestations with group of cardiovascular drugs and also with the increasing number of drugs.