Factors Related to Restoration of the Ability for Oral Intake in Patients with Parkinson's Disease after Aspiration Pneumonia

Abstract

We examined the data of 37 patients with Parkinson's disease who were admitted to our hospital with aspiration pneumonia. All of them were perfectly able to eat food prior to the hospitalization, but were completely unable to eat at the start of the dysphagia rehabilitation. We investigated the factors associated with the restoration of the ability for oral intake in the 17 patients in whom the ability to eat food was completely restored by the time of discharge. The results revealed that the latter patients were significantly younger, had lower Hoehn-Yahr scores, and higher scores on the motor Functional Independence Measure (FIM) at discharge, higher scores on the cognitive FIM at admission, higher scores on cognitive FIM at discharge, and also a higher motor FIM efficiency, than the patients in whom the ability for oral intake was not restored by the time of discharge. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between the degree of improvement in the swallowing function and the motor FIM efficiency. We concluded that among Parkinson's disease patients hospitalized for aspiration pneumonia, patients with better cognitive ability were more likely to show improvement of the motor functions and more likely to show a restored ability for oral intake.