da Costa Franceschini Andressa, Mourão Lucia Figueiredo
School of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
NeuroRehabilitation. 2015;36(1):127-34. doi: 10.3233/NRE-141200.
Dysarthria and dysphagia are the most common clinical problems encountered in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and may reduce the quality of life.
Evaluate the association of dysarthria and dysphagia and to evaluate the impact of dysphagia on swallowing quality of life in patients with ALS with spinal onset.
Seventeen patients underwent to speech and swallowing evaluation and filled out self-report assessment of the Swallowing Quality of Life (SWAL-QOL). The dysarthria severity was graded using the Speech Subscale of ALS Severity Scale. The dysphagia severity was graded using a scale proposed by Dziweas et al., and the Functional Oral Intake Scale.
Over 70% of the ALS patients with spinal onset had dysarthria and dysphagia. The correlation of dysarthria and dysphagia scales was statistically significant (p < 0.001). The correlation between dysarthria and dysphagia severity and SWAL-QOL outcomes was significant for the same domains: "symptom frequency", "communication" and "fear of eating". The SWAL-QOL domains presented a mild to moderate impact on quality of life. Disease duration did not impact on SWAL-QOL.
Dysarthria and dysphagia were common symptoms in patients with spinal onset of ALS and the swallowing quality of life decrease was directly related to with severity of dysarthria and dysphagia.
构音障碍和吞咽困难是肌萎缩侧索硬化症中最常见的临床问题，可能会降低生活质量。
评估构音障碍与吞咽困难之间的关联，并评估吞咽困难对脊髓型肌萎缩侧索硬化症患者吞咽生活质量的影响。
17名患者接受了言语和吞咽评估，并填写了吞咽生活质量（SWAL-QOL）的自我报告评估。使用肌萎缩侧索硬化症严重程度量表的言语分量表对构音障碍严重程度进行分级。使用Dziweas等人提出的量表和功能性经口摄入量表对吞咽困难严重程度进行分级。
超过70%的脊髓型肌萎缩侧索硬化症患者存在构音障碍和吞咽困难。构音障碍和吞咽困难量表之间的相关性具有统计学意义（p < 0.001）。构音障碍和吞咽困难严重程度与SWAL-QOL结果在相同领域（“症状频率”、“沟通”和“进食恐惧”）存在显著相关性。SWAL-QOL领域对生活质量有轻度至中度影响。病程对SWAL-QOL没有影响。
构音障碍和吞咽困难是脊髓型肌萎缩侧索硬化症患者的常见症状，吞咽生活质量的下降与构音障碍和吞咽困难的严重程度直接相关。
