Abstract
Objectives: Understanding how aging impacts swallowing can help differentiate typical from atypical behaviors. This study aimed to quantify age-related swallowing alterations observed during a modified barium swallow study. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Adult fluoroscopy suite in a metropolitan hospital at an academic center. Participants: 195 healthy adults distributed across 3 age categories: 21–39; 40–59; 60+ years. Measurements: 17 physiologic components of swallowing across three functional domains (oral, pharyngeal, esophageal), including summed composite scores (Oral Total [OT] and Pharyngeal Total [PT]), from the validated and standardized Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile. Results: Most components (65%) demonstrated no impairment (scores of “0”). The odds of a worse (higher) score increased significantly with age for: Tongue Control during Bolus Hold, Hyolaryngeal Movement, Laryngeal Closure, Pharyngeal Contraction, and Pharyngoesophageal Segment Opening. OT and PT scores for 40–59-year-olds were worse than the youngest group (p=.01 and p <.001, respectively). Adults 60+ years had significantly worse PT scores among all groups (p-values <.01). Conclusion: Oropharyngeal swallowing physiology evolves as healthy adults age and should be considered during clinical decision-making.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 973-980 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2022 |
Funding
Conflicts of Interest: a. Financial conflicts: This work was supported by the Veterans Affairs (RR&D 1IK1RX001628-01A to K.G.), American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (K.G.), the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NCATS TL1R000061 to K.G. and NIH/NIDCD 1K24DC12801 to B.M-H.), and the Evelyn Trammell Trust (to B.M-H.). b. Personal conflicts: Authors declare none. c. Potential conflict: B.M-H. receives MBSImP Royalty from the Medical University of South Carolina owner and license guarantor to Northern Speech Services (NSS).
Keywords
- Swallowing
- adults
- aging
- healthy
- modified barium swallow study
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Nutrition and Dietetics
- Geriatrics and Gerontology