Relationship Between the Ingestion and Swallowing Function and ADL of Patients with Serious Mental Retardation in an Institution -The shape of the food as a function index-

Abstract

In order to clarify the characteristics of the ingestion and swallowing function in patients with serious mental retardation, we investigated the shape of the food in meals for the patients in a welfare institution. The shape of the food was classified into six degrees based on difficulty of deglutition. The shape of the food was also examined with respect to the grade of oral dysfunction and ADL (activity of daily living) quantitatively.
The grade of oral dysfunction was evaluated based on the score changed into dysfunction of the lips and tongue in eating. ADL was evaluated using FIM (functional independence measure).
1) There was a significant positive correlation between the degree of the shape of the food and oral dysfunction.
2) There was a significant positive correlation between the degree of the shape of the food and the FIM items.