2013 Volume 17 Issue 2 Pages 145-152
Background: Disuse atrophy of swallowing-related organs due to an excessive decrease in swallowing frequency is suspected to occur in patients with poor oral intake, especially elderly people. However, swallowing frequency during daily life has not previously been examined in elderly or dysphagic patients.
Objective: This study examined swallowing frequency in elderly people using a portable device capable of long-term operation and compared the findings with those in a younger population and differences in daily life activities.
Methods: Two groups participated in this study. The elderly people group consisted of 47 elderly people (average age 83.4±8.2 years) living in a nursing home and the control group consisted of 15 healthy young people (average age 26.5±3.5 years). For 1 h each, we examined swallowing frequency during daily life in individuals from these groups and then compared data on swallowing frequency as follows. 1) We compared swallowing frequency in the elderly group and the control group. 2) 39 elderly people were divided into two groups according to the degree of daily life activities: a semi-bedridden group and a bedridden group, and the swallowing frequency was compared. All participants were instructed not to eat or drink anything during measurement.
Results: 1) The swallowing frequency in the elderly group was 2–23 times/h and the average was 9.0±5.4 times/h, and that in the control group was 16–76 times/h and the average was 40.7±19.5 times/h. Thus, the swallowing frequency in elderly people was significantly lower than that in young healthy people (p＜0.0001). 2) The swallowing frequency in the bedridden group was 2–21 times/h and the average was 7.7±4.6 times/h, and that in the semi-bedridden group was 3–23 times/h and the average was 11.6±6.2 times/h. Thus, the swallowing frequency in the bedridden group was significantly lower than that in the semi-bedridden group (p＜0.05). Conclusion: These results indicated that during daily life, elderly people tend to swallow less frequently than young people. In addition, the swallowing frequency is lower in elderly subjects showing low activity in daily life.
