• Aya Hirata, Masahiro Ishizaka, Yohei Sawaya, Takahiro Shiba, and Tomohiko Urano.
• Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, School of Health Science, International University of Health and Welfare.
• Nihon Ronen Igakkai Zasshi. 2021 Jan 1; 58 (1): 134-142.

PurposeIt is important to prevent sarcopenia in community-dwelling elderly adults. Thus, we investigated the relationship between the swallowing function, nutritional status, and physical function in elderly outpatients.MethodsA total of 90 elderly outpatients (77.2±8.3 years) participated in the study. The investigation items included the Seirei dysphagia screening questionnaire, 20 masticable foods questionnaire, tongue pressure, grip strength, the skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), the questionnaire for sarcopenia screening (SARC-F), and the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF). The odds ratio for the swallowing function and six items was determined by a logistic regression analysis.ResultsAbout 83.3% of the participants were at risk of dysphagia. The questions that detected the symptom in ≥30% of the participants were, "Do you cough during a meal?", "Have you become slower at eating?", and "Has it become more difficult to eat hard food?". The 20 masticable foods questionnaire, SARC-F, and MNA-SF were correlated with the Seirei dysphagia screening questionnaire. The results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that SARC-F was a significant predictor for a loss of the swallowing function.ConclusionBecause elderly outpatients have a decreased oral function, including chewing, they are at an increased risk of dysphagia. This study suggested that the swallowing function in elderly outpatients is related to the chewing ability, nutritional status, and sarcopenia. The swallowing function can thus be used to detect sarcopenia in elderly outpatients at an early stage and is important for preventing dysphagia.

11 keywords...

hide…