The effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on increasing salivary flow rate in hemodialysis patients

Objective To evaluate the impact of a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) program for hemodialysis on patients’ dry mouth and salivary flow rates. Subjects and Methods A single‐blinded repeated measures study design was used. A total of 80 subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment group receiving a 250 µs; 50 Hz TENS program and a control group receiving a 50 µs; 2 Hz TENS program at acupoints ST 6 and TE17 three times a week for 3 weeks. Whole salivary flow rate and dry mouth intensity were measured totally five times for both groups, at pretreatment, after three, six, nineTENS sessions, and 1 week after the treatment was completed. Results After six TENS sessions were completed, whole salivary flow rates increased stably until the end of nine TENS sessions for the treatment group. In the follow‐up week after treatment, there was significant increase as well. However, significant improvement in dry mouth intensity was observed at all post‐tests than that at pretreatment in both groups. Conclusion Whole salivary flow rates and improvement in dry mouth intensity were only observed during and 1 week after the TENS sessions. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether this method can offer a long‐term effective nonpharmacological therapy for dry mouth‐disturbed hemodialysis patients.