Pathophysiology of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia Assessed by Videofluoroscopy in Patients with Dementia Taking Antipsychotics

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the pathophysiology of oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) in patients with dementia, specifically in those taking antipsychotics (APs).

Design: A cross-sectional study was performed from January 2011 to May 2017 in a general hospital.

Setting and participants: We included 114 patients with dementia, of which 39 (34.2%) were taking APs (82.5 ± 7.8 years, Barthel Index 52.28 ± 30.42) and 29 patients without dementia (82.4 ± 6.7 years, Barthel Index 77.71 ± 24.7) and OD confirmed by a videofluoroscopy.

Measures: Demographical and clinical factors as well as swallowing function of patients with dementia with OD were compared with older patients without dementia with OD. We also compared patients with dementia taking and not taking APs. Impaired efficacy during videofluoroscopy was defined as the presence of oral and/or pharyngeal residue, and impaired safety (unsafe swallow) was defined as aspiration or penetration. Receiver operating characteristic curves were drawn for laryngeal vestibule closure (LVC) time to predict unsafe swallow.

Results: 87.7% of patients with dementia presented impaired efficacy of swallow and 74.6% impaired safety [penetration-aspiration scale (PAS) 3.94 ± 1.94]. 86.2% of patients without dementia presented impaired efficacy and 44.8% impaired safety (PAS 2.21 ± 1.92). Time to LVC was significantly delayed in patients with dementia taking APs in comparison with patients without dementia (LVC 0.377 ± 0.093 vs 0.305 ± 0.026, P = .003). In contrast, there were no differences in the PAS and LVC time in patients with dementia taking and not taking APs (PAS 3.96 ± 0.26 vs 3.88 ± 0.22, LVC 0.398 ± 0.117 vs 0.376 ± 0.115, NS). LVC time ≥0.340 seconds predicted unsafe swallow in patients with dementia with an accuracy of 0.71.

Conclusions/implications: Patients with dementia presented high prevalence and severity of videofluoroscopy signs of impaired efficacy and safety of swallow and a more severe impairment in airway protection mechanisms (higher PAS and LVC delay). Clinical practice should implement specific protocols to prevent OD and its complications in these patients. AP treatment did not significantly worsen swallowing impairments.

Keywords: Antipsychotics; aspiration; dementia; oropharyngeal dysphagia.