Abstract
[Objective] The aim of this study is to investigate the association between obedience to commands concerning motion in the upper-aero-digestive tract and swallowing ability.[Subjects and methods]The subjects included 201 (61 male and 140 female) hospitalized patients. The obedience abilities were estimated using a score to indicate the degree of the response to each direction of 1) phonation, 2) throat clearing, 3) tongue thrust and 4) moving the tongue to the right and left(Obedience Score:OS), Swallowing abilities were estimated using Fujishima's swallowing function Grade (FSFG) and another score to indicate the type of foods that could be swallowed without complications (Food Form Score:FFS).[Results]There was an extremely high correlation(r=0.91,p<0.0001) between the FSFG and FFS. Significant correlations were also found between the OS and FSFG (r=0.66, p<0.0001)and between the OS and FFS(r=0.83,p<0.0001).[Conclusion]These data demonstrate associations between the obedience to the directions in the oral and laryngeal region and swallowing abilities and suggests cause-result relationships between these abilities and the possibility that the OS could be used as a predictor of swallowing ability.
