Abstract
Aspiration pneumonia currently ranks among the top causes of death in Japan and is an important social problem.
Therefore, there is growing interest in rehabilitation and prevention initiatives. In particular, dysphagia can develop from a variety of causes and significantly reduces quality of life. Therefore, early and accurate assessment of dysphagia and initiation of feeding and rehabilitation is necessary; however, improving the quality of such rehabilitation is a challenge.This article first describes the mechanism of swallowing, touching on the 'five stages of ingestion' and the 'process model' of swallowing movements. It then summarises the diseases that cause feeding and swallowing disorders in adults and considers the effects of sarcopenia, which is considered a problem in the elderly. Various multifaceted assessment methods for evaluating dysphagia are also introduced, as well as the development of assessment methods for videofluoroscopic and videoendoscopic swallowing examinations, which have recently become the gold standard.
