The relationship was investigated between the swallowing ability and nutritional index of long-term hospitalized patients to clarify the influence of dysphagia on the nutritional status.
55 chronic-stage rehabilitation patients under long-term hospitalization who were feeding orally were divided to two groups. One group consisted of 22 patients who had normal swallowing function (12 males and 10 females with an average age of 69.7±14.1 years) and received a solid diet, this group being regarded as the normal swallowing group, while the other group consisted of 33 patients who had mild dysphagia (21 males and 12 females with an average age of 75.5±11.3 years) and received a diet prepared for dysphagia, this group being regarded as the dysphagia group. The serum albumin level, body mass index (BMI) and energy intake adequacy of both groups were compared, and the relationship between dysphagia and nutritional index investigated.
There was a significant difference in the serum albumin level between the normal swallowing group and dysphagia group,
i.e., 4.0±0.3g/d
l in the normal swallowing group and 3.4±0.4g/d
l in the dysphagia group. The ratio of hypoalbuminemia was also significantly lower in the normal swallowing group than in the dysphagia group (
i.e., 9.1% and 48.5%). BMI was significantly different between the normal swallowing group and the dysphagia group,
i.e., 22.6±4.3kg/m
2 in the normal swallowing group and 19.4±3.5kg/m
2 in the dysphagia group. The incidence of low weight tended to be lower in the normal swallowing group than in the dysphagia group (
i.e., 18.2% and 42.4%), while the incidence of obesity tended to be higher in the former than in the latter (
i.e., 31.8% and 12.1%). The energy intake adequacy was significantly different between the normal swallowing group and the dysphagia group,
i.e., 107.3±11.3% and 92.7±16.4%, respectively, there being a significant negative correlation between dysphagia and nutritional index.
These results show that the dysphagia group was suffering from malnutrition, the nutritional status of this group being worse than that of the normal swallowing group. It is therefore suggested that dysphagia is a risk factor in the decline of nutritional status in chronic-stage rehabilitation patients during long-term hospitalization.
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