Reflex Cough and Disease Duration as Predictors of Swallowing Dysfunction in Parkinson ’s Disease

< h3 class= " a-plus-plus " > Abstract < /h3 > < p class= " a-plus-plus " > Patients with Parkinson ’s disease (PD) have progressive and pervasive disorders of airway protection. Recent work has highlighted the relationship between reflex and voluntary cough and swallowing safety. The goal of this study was to test the sensitivity and specificity of several airway protective and disease-specific factors for predicting swallowing safety outcomes in PD. Sixty-four participants (44 males) completed measures of voluntary and reflex cough, and swallowing safety. Clinical predictors included disease severity and duration, and cough airflow and sensitivity measures. ROC and Chi-square analyses id entified predictors of swallowing safety (penetration–aspiration score) in PD. Disease duration significantly discriminated between patients with normal and abnormal swallowing safety ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > p < /em >  = 0.027, sensitivity: 71 %, specificity: 55.4 %). Cough reflex sensitivity significantly discriminated between patients who penetrated above the level of the vocal folds and those with more severe penetration/aspiration ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > p < /em >  = 0.021, sensitivity: 71.0 %, specificity 57.6 %). Urge-to-cough sensitivity (log–log linear slope) was the only variable which significantly discriminated between patients with penetration versus aspiration ( < em class= " a-plus-plus " > p < /em >  = 0.017, sensitivity: 85.7 %, specificity ...

Source: Dysphagia - July 25, 2016 Category: Speech Therapy Source Type: research