Comparative study of dysphagia occurring after acute respiratory distress syndrome in COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 patients

Abstract

We compared the clinical characteristics and incidence of dysphagia after mechanical ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurring with or without coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Sixty-seven patients who were diagnosed with ARDS due to COVID-19 and were managed with mechanical ventilation between January 2020 to March 2021 were included in the COVID-19 group. This group was compared with 32 patients who were diagnosed with ARDS due to diseases other than COVID-19 between January 2017 and March 2021 (the non-COVID-19 group). Clinical characteristics and dysphagia during the time after being in the intensive care unit and hospital discharge were compared for the two patient groups. The Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) was used to evaluate dysphagia. FOIS levels 1 to 5 are defined as dysphagia. There were no statistically significant differences in patient characteristics between the two groups other than their Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores (18.82±5.949 vs 25.97±6.977, p<0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the incidence of dysphagia at hospital discharge in patients with COVID-19-associated ARDS was statistically significantly lower than in patients with ARDS due to other causes (OR 0.238, 95% CI 0.071-0.798; p=0.02). (J Osaka Dent Univ 2022; 56: 209-214)