Influence of Age on Swallows of a Highly Viscous Liquid Bolus

Abstract

-Background -Swallow function has a decline with aging, mainly in those over 80 years old. In the population over 69 years, about 11% of subjects reported symptoms indicative of significant dysphagia. Objective -Our objective was to evaluate the hypothesis that older asymptomatic subjects before 80 years old have compensations to sustain a safe and efficient swallow, at least with swallows of liquid bolus. Method -We performed videofluoroscopic evaluation of swallows in 55 normal volunteers, a younger group with 33 subjects (16 men and 17 women) aged 19 to 55 years, mean 35.5±9.8 years, and an older group with 22 subjects (15 men and 7 women) aged 56 to 77 years, mean 64.8±6.8 years. The subjects swallowed in duplicate 5 mL and 10 mL of liquid barium with a pH of 7.9, density of 1.82 g/cm 3, and viscosity of 895 cp. Results -The mean duration of pharyngeal transit, pharyngeal clearance, upper esophageal sphincter opening, hyoid movement and oral-pharyngeal transit were longer in the younger group compared with the older group. The relation between pharyngeal clearance duration and hyoid movement duration was similar in younger and older subjects, for 5 mL and 10 mL bolus volumes. Conclusion -On average, a highly viscous liquid bolus crosses the pharynx faster in older subjects (56-77 years old) than in younger subjects (19-55 years old), which suggested an adaptation to the aging process to maintain a safe swallow.

Dental status, oral prosthesis and chewing ability in an adult and elderly population in southern Brazil

“…Previous studies examining this phenomenon usually use clinical or institutionalized populations 8 , 10 , 11 , 13 . It is critical to understand the distribution of chewing ability as well as the factors associated with this condition through a population-based household survey to understand the dysfunctions in the adult and elderly population, such as difficulties in eating consistent foods and difficulties in forming the food bolus for swallowing 14 , 15 . It is also critical to have subsidies to propose actions directed towards health promotion and the greatest effectiveness in the scope of prevention, diagnosis and rehabilitation.…”

Caracterização do escape posterior tardio na deglutição

“…Swallowing is a physiological process that requires proper coordination and integrity of organs, muscles and nerves to be efficient and coordinated. Aging is a natural process that causes neural, structural and functional decline, impacting the swallowing phases (9,10) . The present study found a mean age range of 65.2 ± 9.7 among the subjects, most of whom had an underlying disease, which certainly potentiated the decline in swallowing efficiency.…”

Normal Variations in Upper Esophageal Sphincter Function During Deglutition: A Secondary Analysis of Videofluoroscopic Data

“…One study 28 found an inverse relationship between age and UESOdur, and another 19 reported no difference between younger and older adults. Their cohort of older adults 19,28 may have demonstrated typical sensorydriven functional motor compensations 46 since primary motor cortical areas are typically preserved with age. 45 Another theory is the interplay between bolus pressure, volume, and UES compliance.…”

“…A lack of well-tested and validated swallow task procedures, such as the Modified Barium Swallow Impairment Profile (MBSImP) protocol, have been applied to test normal UES function. [34][35][36][37] Studies have explored an array of contextual factors on UESOdur and UESmax, including age, 19,20,[23][24][25][28][29][30]32 sex, 19,20,[23][24][25][26]30,31,33 viscosity, [19][20][21]30,31 and volume, 19,22,[25][26][27]29,[31][32][33] but we are unaware of a single, large-scale study that has investigated the collective interaction of all these factors using a wide range of standardized swallow tasks that have been well-tested to identify swallowing impairment accurately. These current research gaps limit the overall context in which these measures can be interpreted clinically.…”