Spontaneous swallowing frequency has potential to identify dysphagia in acute stroke

摘要

The goal of this study was to investigate the use of spontaneous swallow frequency, defined as swallows per minute (SPM) during a 30-min time period, as a dysphagia screening protocol in a cohort of 63 acute stroke patients (mean age = 59.2 years; 33 M/30F;39ischemic/24hemorrhagic). The Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA) was the criterion referent and categorized participants as presenting with dysphagia or no dysphagia. SPM correlated significantly with stroke and swallow severity indices, i.e., participants with dysphagia demonstrated significantly lower SPM rates, and SPM differed by dysphagia severity, i.e., no dysphagia (0.56 SPM); mild (0.34 SPM); moderate (0.23 SPM); and severe (0.16 SPM). SPM did not correlate with age, stroke onset time, or level of consciousness. Spontaneous swallow frequency demonstrated high sensitivity (96 %), high negative predictive value (96 %), and a conservative false positive (32 %), i.e., over referral, and has potential for use as a dysphagia screen with acute stroke patients without the need for trained personnel.