Nilsson H, Ekberg O, Olsson R, Hindfelt B
Department of Neurology, University of Lund, Malmö General Hospital, Sweden.
Dysphagia. 1996 Summer;11(3):180-4. doi: 10.1007/BF00366381.
The prevalence of swallowing impairment increases with age and is a major health care problem in the elderly. It has been assumed that age-related changes in nerves and muscles hamper muscle strength and coordination of swallowing. However, it is unclear what impairment is related to primary aging and what is the consequence of diseases prevalent in the elderly (secondary aging). In order to quantify swallowing in nondysphagic elderly we used the noninvasive ROSS (Repetitive Oral Suction Swallow) test. A total of 53 individuals aged 76 +/- 5 years (mean +/- SD) were examined. We found that the nondysphagic elderly demonstrated significant differences compared with young individuals in 10 of 17 measured variables, i.e., decreased peak suction pressure, increased frequency of multiple swallows after one ingestion, increased frequency of polyphasic laryngeal movements, increased frequency of inspiration after swallowing, and increased frequency of coughing during or after swallowing. Therefore, primary aging mainly seems to influence coordination of swallowing, but oral and pharyngeal swallow per se seem to be unaffected.
吞咽障碍的患病率随年龄增长而增加，是老年人的一个主要医疗保健问题。人们认为，神经和肌肉的年龄相关变化会妨碍吞咽的肌肉力量和协调性。然而，目前尚不清楚哪些损伤与原发性衰老有关，哪些是老年人中普遍存在的疾病（继发性衰老）的后果。为了量化无吞咽困难老年人的吞咽情况，我们使用了非侵入性的ROSS（重复口腔吸引吞咽）测试。共检查了53名年龄为76±5岁（平均±标准差）的个体。我们发现，在17个测量变量中的10个方面，无吞咽困难的老年人与年轻人相比存在显著差异，即吸气峰值压力降低、一次吞咽后多次吞咽的频率增加、多相喉部运动的频率增加、吞咽后吸气的频率增加以及吞咽期间或吞咽后咳嗽的频率增加。因此，原发性衰老似乎主要影响吞咽的协调性，但口腔和咽部吞咽本身似乎未受影响。
