2022 Volume 39 Issue 3 Pages 408-411
Dysphagia is one of the most serious complications in the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease (PD), becoming more severe as the disease progresses. However, it is difficult to notice dysphagia either subjectively or objectively.
The objective of this study was to clarify the factors related to oral intake in advanced PD patients with a moderate to severe dysphagia and to investigate a method that could be easily used to detect swallowing dysfunction of PD patients.
Participant : Thirty–seven patients with PD admitted to the Department of Neurology were enrolled. The average age was 77.0±5.8 (meant±standard deviation) years and the average PD duration was 8.4±6.3 years.
Methods : The patients were divided into two groups based on the with or without dysphagia. The factors were compared between the groups as follows : the age, sex, PD duration, length of hospitalization, videofluoroscopic examination of swallowing (VF) from hospitalization, body mass index, albumin value, mini mental state examination, gag reflex, repetitive saliva swallowing test, expectoration, maximum phonation time (MPT), voice volume, speech intelligibility, grip strength, gait, hospitalization, and days from hospitalization to VF.
Results : There was a statistically significant difference in, grip strength, expectoration, voice volume, and MPT between the two groups.
Conclusion : Our data indicated that grip strength, expectoration, voice volume and MPT may be useful indices for detecting dysphagia in the advanced stages of PD.
