Archives of gerontology and geriatrics
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Arch Gerontol Geriatr · Sep 2018
Age-related declines in the swallowing muscle strength of men and women aged 20-89 years: A cross-sectional study on tongue pressure and jaw-opening force in 980 subjects.
Swallowing muscle strength weakens with aging. Although numerous studies have investigated tongue pressure (TP) changes with age, studies on jaw-opening force (JOF), an indicator of suprahyoid muscle strength, are lacking. We investigated differences between age-related declines in TP and JOF in a cross-sectional study of 980 healthy and independent participants (379 men, 601 women) without dysphagia. ⋯ TP declined more steeply than did JOF. Thus, the age related-decline in TP was similar to that of the HGS, but not the JOF. The results reveal that different patterns exist in the age-related decline in swallowing muscle strength, and suggest that maintenance of JOF might contribute to safe swallowing in healthy elderly individuals.