Prinsenstichting, Purmerend, The Netherlands.
Cordaan, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2020 Apr;64(4):280-286. doi: 10.1111/jir.12693. Epub 2020 Jan 24.
Children with Down syndrome can have problems with chewing and swallowing. However, no objective tests are available that give information about the efficiency and endurance of mastication. In this study, the feasibility of two mastication tests is studied by answering two research questions: are the Test of Mastication and Swallowing of Solids and the 6-min mastication test feasible to use in children with Down syndrome? Do these tests give information about the mastication efficiency and endurance in these children?
A total of 24 (4-18 years) children with Down syndrome participated. The collected variables in the Test of Mastication and Swallowing of Solids were masticatory time, discrete bites, masticatory cycles and number of swallows per cracker. The inter-rater reliability of these variables was tested. Collected variables in the 6-min mastication test were total masticatory cycles and percentage difference between minutes 1 and 6. Qualitative ratings of masticatory movements were made. In both tests, a comparison with a typically developing group was made.
In both tests, a total of 87.5% of the children completed the test. Both tests are feasible for children with Down syndrome with language comprehension skills of 3 years and over.
The tests give information about the function and endurance during mastication in children with Down syndrome. The results showed that children with Down syndrome do not have endurance problems during mastication, but there is a lack of efficiency in mastication.
患有唐氏综合征的儿童可能存在咀嚼和吞咽问题。然而，目前还没有能够提供关于咀嚼效率和耐力的客观测试。在这项研究中，通过回答两个研究问题，研究了两种咀嚼测试的可行性：固体食物咀嚼和吞咽测试以及 6 分钟咀嚼测试是否可用于唐氏综合征儿童？这些测试是否能提供有关这些儿童咀嚼效率和耐力的信息？
共有 24 名（4-18 岁）唐氏综合征儿童参与了研究。在固体食物咀嚼和吞咽测试中收集的变量包括咀嚼时间、离散咀嚼次数、咀嚼周期和每块饼干的吞咽次数。测试了这些变量的组内信度。在 6 分钟咀嚼测试中收集的变量是总咀嚼周期和第 1 分钟与第 6 分钟之间的百分比差异。对咀嚼动作的定性评分进行了评估。在这两项测试中，都与典型发育组进行了比较。
在这两项测试中，共有 87.5%的儿童完成了测试。这两项测试对于具有 3 年以上语言理解能力的唐氏综合征儿童都是可行的。
这些测试提供了唐氏综合征儿童咀嚼功能和耐力的信息。结果表明，唐氏综合征儿童在咀嚼过程中没有耐力问题，但咀嚼效率不足。
