Department of Otolaryngology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Laryngoscope. 2013 Oct;123(10):2469-73. doi: 10.1002/lary.23852. Epub 2013 Aug 5.
OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The tongue contributes to a safe swallow. It facilitates bolus control during mastication, maintains a bolus in the oral cavity to prevent premature entry of the bolus into the hypopharynx, and helps generate pressure in the hypopharynx during swallowing. This study examined isometric tongue strength and tongue pressure measured during swallowing in healthy young and older adults.
Prospective group design.
One hundred twenty-six healthy individuals who were recruited as part of a larger study on swallowing participated in this study. Participants were divided into three age groups: 20 to 40 years, 41 to 60 years, and ≥61 years. A KayPentax Digital Swallowing Workstation with an air-filled bulb array was placed on the tongue of each participant (anterior to posterior). Participants completed three isometric tongue presses and three swallows.
Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed a significant main effect of age (P = .01) and gender by tongue bulb location interaction (P = .02) for isometric tongue strength. That is, older adults had lower isometric tongue strength than young adults, and females had a greater difference between anterior and posterior tongue strength than males. Tongue strength during swallowing yielded significantly greater anterior versus posterior tongue pressure.
This study comprises one of the largest in terms of number of healthy participants reported to date and confirms previous findings that isometric tongue strength decreases with age. Furthermore, given young and older adults generate similar swallowing pressures, swallowing is a submaximal strength activity, yet older adults have less functional reserve.
目的/假设：舌头有助于安全吞咽。它有助于在咀嚼过程中控制食团，在口腔中保持食团以防止食团过早进入下咽，并有助于在吞咽时在下咽产生压力。本研究检查了健康的年轻和老年成年人在吞咽过程中的等长舌力和舌压。
前瞻性组设计。
126 名健康参与者作为吞咽更大研究的一部分被招募参加了这项研究。参与者分为三组：20 至 40 岁、41 至 60 岁和≥61 岁。KayPentax 数字吞咽工作站带有充气灯泡阵列放置在每个参与者的舌头上（从前到后）。参与者完成了三次等长舌压和三次吞咽。
重复测量方差分析显示，等长舌力的年龄（P=0.01）和性别与舌灯泡位置交互作用（P=0.02）有显著的主效应。也就是说，老年人的等长舌力比年轻人低，女性的前舌力和后舌力之间的差异大于男性。吞咽时的舌力产生了明显更大的前舌压和后舌压。
本研究是迄今为止报告的健康参与者人数最多的研究之一，证实了以前的发现，即等长舌力随年龄的增长而下降。此外，鉴于年轻和老年成年人产生相似的吞咽压力，吞咽是一种亚最大强度活动，但老年成年人的功能储备较少。
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