Oropharyngeal dysphagia frequency in older adults living in nursing homes: An integrative review

Abstract

Purpose: To synthesize the scientific knowledge on the frequency of oropharyngeal dysphagia in older adults living in nursing homes. Research strategies: The study question followed the PECO strategy and the search was performed in the Pubmed/Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, LILACS and SciELO databases, using keywords and specific free terms. Selection criteria: articles with no time or language restrictions that reported the frequency of oropharyngeal dysphagia in older adults living in nursing homes and the diagnostic criteria. Data analysis: it was analyzed the population characteristics, the concept of “oropharyngeal dysphagia”, the methods for identifying the outcome and the frequency of oropharyngeal dysphagia. The evaluation of the methodological quality of the articles followed the criteria of Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE). Results: Fifteen articles were included. There was great variability in relation to the sample size, with a predominance of longevous old women. The concept of dysphagia, when mentioned, was heterogeneous. Diagnostic criteria were diverse and mostly comprised of questionnaires or clinical trials results. No studies used instrumental tests. The frequency of oropharyngeal dysphagia in the studied population ranged from 5.4% to 83.7%, being higher in studies that used clinical tests, but with greater precision of confidence intervals in studies that used questionnaires and large sample size. Conclusion: The frequency of oropharyngeal dysphagia in older adults living in nursing homes has wide variability. Methodological discrepancies among studies compromise the reliability of frequency estimates and highlight the need for research with better defined and standardized methodological criteria.