Prevalence, Incidence, and Predictors of Self-reported Swallowing Difficulties in Community-Dwelling Adults: A Population-Based Study from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

AbstractThere is a paucity of evidence from population-based studies identifying prevalence and incidence of dysphagia, as well as health and sociodemographic risk factors that may contribute to its development. As such, the current study aimed to determine prevalence, incidence, and associated predictors of dysphagia in adults. The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging is a nationally representative population study that follows 51,338 Canadians over 45  years of age. Biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and economic data are collected. A secondary analysis of the data was conducted to determine prevalence, incidence, and the predictors of self-reported swallowing difficulty in adults between 45 and 85 years of age. Rates of swal lowing difficulty by demographic risk factor, as well as lifestyle and health factors were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Associations between lifestyle and health variables with dysphagia were tested using Chi-square tests ort tests, as appropriate. Logistic regression was used to determine the predictors of self-reported swallowing difficulties. Overall prevalence of self-reported swallowing difficulties in adults over the age of 45 was 10.6% and increased to 13.7% after 3  years. Significant differences (p <  0.001) in self-reported swallowing difficulty at baseline were apparent across smoking status, requiring help to prepare meals, life satisfaction, social participation, all disease categories except dementia...
Source: Dysphagia - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research