• Yoko Wakasugi, Haruka Tohara, Nami Machida, Ayako Nakane, and Shunsuke Minakuchi.
• Gerodontology and Oral Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
• Gerodontology. 2017 Dec 1; 34 (4): 455-459.

ObjectivesSwallowing-related muscle strength decreases due to sarcopenia, and older people are at risk for sarcopenia and the resultant dysphagia. However, no studies have assessed the direct relationships between whole-body strength and swallowing-related muscles. Therefore, this study investigates the relationships between decreased whole-body strength, which is easily evaluated, and swallowing-related muscle strength.Materials And MethodsA total of 197 elderly individuals (97 men aged 78.5 ± 6.6 years and 100 women aged 77.8 ± 6.2 years) were enrolled. Grip strength, walking speed, tongue pressure and jaw opening force were measured, and the effects of age and the relationships between whole-body strength and swallowing-related muscle strength were investigated.ResultsWith respect to age-related changes, tongue pressure, jaw opening force, grip strength and walking speed decreased with age in men and women. The relationships between whole-body strength and swallowing-related muscle strength were analysed, with age used as the control variable. Among men, tongue pressure was correlated with grip strength and walking speed, whereas jaw opening force was correlated with grip strength. Among women, neither tongue pressure nor jaw opening force was correlated with grip strength or walking speed.ConclusionsThere was a sex-based difference in the correlations between whole-body strength and swallowing-related muscle strength. Among men, swallowing-related muscle strength was correlated with whole-body strength, and grip strength could thus serve as a simple indicator for swallowing-related muscle strength.Clinical RelevanceDecreased swallowing-related muscle strength can be inferred in cases involving male patients for whom decreased grip strength is measured during physical examination or is otherwise suggested (eg, by an inability to open plastic bottles).© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S and The Gerodontology Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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