Department of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care, 150819Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
GeriCare, 150819Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2021 Oct;38(10):1172-1176. doi: 10.1177/1049909121992532. Epub 2021 Feb 3.
There are few studies concerning the differences in quality-of-life (QOL) between palliative care patients with and without dysphagia to date. We aimed to compare the QOL and symptoms in palliative patients with and without dysphagia using Swallowing Quality of Life (SWAL-QOL).
Eighty-one palliative patients with and without dysphagia underwent the SWAL-QOL questionnaire. A series of Mann Whitney U tests were performed between non-dysphagic and dysphagic groups for the total SWAL-QOL score and the 11 SWAL-QOL domains.
Dysphagia significantly impacted patients' QOL in the dysphagic group (mean, 69.5; SD 21.9) than non-dysphagic group (mean, 83.2; SD 14.8) ( = 0.006). Significant differences were observed between both groups for the domains of burden, eating desire, eating duration, symptoms, food selection, communication and mental health. The results also showed that the dysphagic group had lower symptom score across all symptoms, suggesting higher symptom burdens.
This study is the first to examine QOL and swallow symptoms in palliative care patients with and without dysphagia. Dysphagia causes significantly worse QOL in palliative care patients. Screening for dysphagia and managing its impact on symptoms and QOL domains is important in palliative care.
目前关于有吞咽困难和无吞咽困难的姑息治疗患者生活质量（QOL）差异的研究较少。我们旨在使用吞咽生活质量问卷（SWAL-QOL）比较有吞咽困难和无吞咽困难的姑息治疗患者的 QOL 和症状。
81 名有吞咽困难和无吞咽困难的姑息治疗患者接受了 SWAL-QOL 问卷评估。对无吞咽困难组和吞咽困难组的总 SWAL-QOL 评分和 11 个 SWAL-QOL 领域进行了一系列 Mann-Whitney U 检验。
吞咽困难显著影响了吞咽困难组患者的 QOL（平均得分 69.5，标准差 21.9），而非吞咽困难组（平均得分 83.2，标准差 14.8）（ = 0.006）。两组在负担、进食欲望、进食时间、症状、食物选择、沟通和心理健康等领域均存在显著差异。结果还表明，吞咽困难组所有症状的症状评分均较低，提示症状负担更高。
这项研究首次检查了有吞咽困难和无吞咽困难的姑息治疗患者的 QOL 和吞咽症状。吞咽困难会显著降低姑息治疗患者的 QOL。在姑息治疗中，筛查吞咽困难并管理其对症状和 QOL 领域的影响非常重要。
