Oropharyngeal Swallowing Dynamic Findings in People with Asthma

AbstractAirflow obstruction in people with asthma, similar to COPD, may interfere with swallowing, increasing the risk of food or liquid entrance into the lower airways, and favoring the uncontrolled disease. To describe the complaints and findings of the oropharyngeal swallowing mechanisms in patients with mild and severe asthma, a cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 135 participants with asthma were studied, of whom 97 had severe asthma and 38 had mild asthma. All subjects answered a questionnaire with demographic information, disease exacerbations, Asthma Control Questionnaire 6 (ACQ6 —Juniper 1999), GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease Symptoms Questionnaire (GERD-SQ—Fornari et al. 2004), and Eating Assessment Tool 10 (EAT-10—Gonçalves et al., 2013). The oral and pharyngeal swallowing assessment occurred via videofluoroscopic swallowing evaluation. The age range of the partici pants was from 19 to 80 years, with a predominance of females (78.6%). Uncontrolled asthma was observed in 50 (52%) of the patients with severe asthma and in 11 (29%) of the patients with mild asthma (ACQ6 >  1.5). The GERD-SQ and EAT-10 scores were similar in both groups. In the bivariate analysis, the group with severe asthma presented with more changes when compared to the group with mild asthma in the following events: atypical lingual movement during the swallowing of liquid in the volumes of 5  ml (p = 0.003) and 10 ml (p = 0.001), and solid (p = 0.009); ora...
Source: Dysphagia - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research