Purpose
Recently, there has been increased emphasis in the dysphagia literature on what constitutes the “normal” swallow, including rates of aspiration and penetration in healthy persons across the age ranges. Since a majority of the normed-based studies utilized videofluoroscopy and were conducted in a tightly controlled environment, there is a need to increase the ecological validity of this body of research and investigate the swallow during functional, day-to-day activities. The aim of this study is to track the incidence of swallowing difficulty in young, healthy adults over an extended period to determine the frequency of aspiration-related events and under what environmental circumstances these events occurred.
Method
Sixty-nine young, healthy women (aged 18–39 years) participated in the study and recorded data for 95 consecutive days. Participants installed a web-based application on their cell phones and were asked to access the app and answer three simple questions immediately following any adverse swallowing events. These data were used to determine the frequency of aspiration-related events and their relationship to environmental circumstance.
Results
Fifty-three of the 69 participants (76.8%) reported coughing or choking, 43 (62.3%) reported clearing their throat, 19 (27.5%) reported a globus sensation, and 14 (20.2%) reported difficulty initiating a swallow. The environmental circumstances most commonly associated with aspiration-related events were talking, being distracted, and using an electronic device.
Conclusion
Results suggest that young, healthy adults experience aspiration-related events at a high frequency and that these events typically occur during activities that require dual attention.
